Underneath the Castle
by JakeRp Lane
Summary: After all meaningful attempts to draw out an answer fails, Eishi, a naiive noble teen heads into the slums to investigate where his brother disappears to each and every night. Naturally, chaos happens when he is discovered, leading to a set of unfortunate events, in which the equally unlucky Levi is dragged into, ending up in an awkward friendship that is brutally honest.
1. Chapter 1

_In the underground slums, there were darker activities than I could ever imagine. Surrounded by the rich areas where many mansions were built, I lived with my family. I am not sure why I am writing about this now, but maybe it is because I met him on the day that my life started to change._

* * *

><p>"Hey..." It was a sudden start to the normally conversational one in their travels. They walked down a rather long path from the garden to the fountain. Eishi spent most of that time before that in the background inside, watching noble kids dance and socialize. Many joked that he was their new wallflower for every party that was held, but he didn't seem to mind. He stared first at the fountain with slight ripples that formed due to the statue spouting water. It was the only thing disturbing a simple reflection of the stars above the sky. He then reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his brother. He figured that if there wasn't a better time to ask other than now, he would never get the nerve to confront him later.<p>

Jake had been tired of being surrounded by others at the party. He had left on his own, but he didn't seem to mind that he was being followed.

"Where do you go at night?" Eishi asked.

He was watched with an expression that he could not identify at that moment. "Does it really matter?"

Eishi was frustrated by then. "It does. You show up back home and you don't say a thing to me, but I can tell that you haven't slept because you haven't been in your room since I checked on your birthday. Do you know how dangerous it is to go out alone at that time?"

Jake smirked by then, standing still next to the fountain as if he knew better, and that bugged him because it was a secret that he couldn't get to. A big one. "The military police will protect us," he stated. "They know better than to disobey father. They are probably watching us right now."

"That's beside the point! They can't be around all the time and I know you, Jake. You don't like them watching over us any more than I do and you wouldn't just stand out there if you weren't sure that they couldn't see. Do you think that there are many places that we can go and they don't?"

He seemed about ready to respond when a girl from the party indoors called out to him. Jake avoided him for a pretty long time next week. That was when Eishi had enough of waiting around indoors at night.

* * *

><p>He did not know what he was doing, but he was dressed for the worst case scenario, with a winter coat and a scarf over his body, but still light enough for travel. He tried to dress simple enough, with pants that didn't stand out much. Noble clothing was a good chance for targeting and they usually traveled around in carriages for this reason. His brother was off in the distance, and he tracked him until they found a path to somewhere underground. It was an entrance to the underground slums, between a dirty set of buildings where homeless people would sometimes sit outside as they begged for coins. His gaze widened and he tightened the scarf over his face before he ran forth, almost into the filthy water at the end of the steps.<p>

His brother's steps could not be far off. He followed the sound of footsteps, walking past horrific scenes of dead bodies piled up in the corner, long rotted away and nothing but skulls staring hollowly out at him with it's shadowed gazes. Rats scurried to the side as his own footsteps echoed along, but he finally entered upon a path that was not accompanied by the water. It was a crowd of people, all dressed in rag-like clothes, the material ripped in places. He walked past them still, worried that he had lost his brother for good. Past near the entrance of the streets where people huddled alongside it, trying to sleep were what looked like thieves. This crowd was filled with burly looking men, all strolling or standing in their own groups and generally more confident, but even further than that seemed to be underground buildings and what resembled a city street. He heard two of the men talking to each other, as he skirted himself behind a wall.

"That kid is hard as fuck to take down. You wouldn't think one of those pigs knew where to hide and run in a place like this."

The other man seemed just as grumpy. "Still a bastard if I've ever seen one. He doesn't belong here and already stabbed Gerick. What is this! Some kind of hunting game?"

"We'll get him back for this."

* * *

><p>He didn't stick around to hear the rest, simply stumbling back from his listening position. His brother couldn't be far off, but he was a little dazed now. <em>What's going on, are they talking about him?<em> A chilly breeze whipped around the underground slums, and Eishi pulled his scarf closer to his face. _I don't believe it. Why would he do something like that?_

He stumbled into what looked like a group of kids huddled around on the ground. The inner city area didn't seem any more welcoming, with the way they looked. He ducked his head and walked past them, trying not to look at the poverty that existed around this area, but it wasn't long before he was lost. He was deeply heading the wrong direction, feeling somewhat upset, wondering if he could have possibly been able to figure out sooner, and why such a thing would be hidden from him. The possible thought of it being that his brother could be killing someone seemed to sink in before he almost stumbled into a person nearby. It was a teenager, around his age, wearing a hooded cloak. He stared at him, and saw that the other's expression was particularly moody as he walked past him, so he watched them warily, distracted enough to bump into someone.

It was a big burly man, who had seemed intent on intercepting their path. "Hey kid," he said, and the boy glanced around just to see that he was suddenly surrounded. "That hurt. Aren't you going to apologize or something?"

He said nothing for the moment, eyes wide and frozen before instinct hit him and he attempted to run for it, darting past the nearest man and towards what looked like an empty alleyway. Unfortunately, he was grabbed by the scarf and it fell off.

Eishi was average height for a kid of seventeen, around 5'4". When his family had adopted him to replace a dead sister, he had thought nothing of it, until he heard whispers from the relatives that he looked like a girl. He didn't mind since all kids his age seemed to be on the girly side too, but then again, it seemed logical that a rich family would pick a decent looker if they ever did choose a child from an orphanage. The purple hair color was overlooked in this area, and he was allowed to keep his hair long to medium length, pulled back into a braid.

Apparently, before he could get pulverized by the man or god knew what else, a flurry of movement rushed past him, and knocked the person into the ground. He stared, gaping awkwardly and dumbstruck when someone literally flew from the ground and started landing punches and kicks. The group of men didn't really just stand around either. They were suddenly busy attempting to dodge and kick the lone fighter. It was like something out of a theater play, in which a hero took down a whole crowd. He backed away into the wall that he thought that he could escape to, but something kept him from running away, namely that he saw the hooded fighter, whose face was still recognizable even from the distance that Eishi stayed in throughout the battle.

Levi only had one man down to go, and he knew it wouldn't look good based on the weapon the guy pulled out. A sword had pretty good range, and it seemed like this man was attempting to play Cassanova from whoever he jacked that off of, along with some cape. It was too bad that he was also balding and had rotten teeth. They aimed at him and swung their sword. Lowering himself into a crouched position he launched one of the arrows into the air and pivoted his body upwards. The glint of metal caught his eye as it started rushing towards him, and he used his own knife in order to repel it, catching the strike with two blades crossed in front of him that echoed loudly throughout the somewhat quiet alley they fought in. But the guy had some kind of trick up his sleeve. A loud bang sounded through the alleyway and smoke filtered through everywhere.

He launched back and tried to sense for footsteps and located the man from his sound.

"Levi!" The man had feigned a slash to the side and did a lower uppercut, only to be repelled by another source. Isabel had jabbed her own sword into the guy's neck before the full weight of the blow could take place, but some of the damage had already been done. He stumbled back, at some point, but knew that he was cut, and it was rather deep as well, not enough to damage organs but just enough to get seriously infected if left untreated. "What the hell happened to ya? Didn't you say it'd only take 5 minutes?!"

That was when Eishi moved away from the alleyway and ran up to the two. "Wait!" he shouted out.

Isabel paused and turned to stare at him. "What do you want?" She asked, the look on her face plainly stating that more pressing matters were at hand.

He skidded to a stop. "I know someone who can help him. It's my fault that he got in this state, so at the very least, allow me to repay the debt."

She eyed him and squinted a bit. "You aren't from around here. What makes you think -"

"Enough!" Levi broke in, as he attempted to move away. "I can take care of myself."

Eishi sighed, and reached into his pocket, holding out what looked like a good amount of money in his pouch. "If you take me back to the upper city, I will give you this, and I will guarantee that your friend is good as new when he comes back."

They both stared at him, looking at the amount of money that was actually Eishi's birthday present to his brother.

"You really aren't from around here," sighed Isabel. "What kind of moron goes around here with that much money on hand?"

The trip back to the upper city remained uneventful, but partly because Levi had collapsed halfway there, and they were suddenly in a bit of a hurry.


	2. Levi wakes up

It seemed much too soon when Eishi arrived at the house of the doctor that he just knew he had to bring Levi to. It had been much more exciting than he wanted to admit, as they dashed past houses with gazes watching them curiously. Isabel took it all in stride, even glaring at some people ahead of them, before they made their way past. Eishi thought he heard Isabel murmuring something about a guy named Farland but he was distracted abruptly as the sight of the doctor's house came into view. They hopped up the steps, with Levi in tow and he rang the doorbell loudly.

It was a pretty normal looking house, and the only thing that seemed to make it unique about other brick and wooden areas was that there were gentle chimes that hung over the porch, making soft rippling noises should the wind brush against it. Eishi had always been calmed by the sound of it back when he visited as a kid. It was like something mystical before they entered the coziest looking place in the entire area. Sai was a doctor who was well off, who looked rather healthy for his age and always had a set of glasses on him, so the gentle tune seemed to fit the guy.

The door was opened a few moments later, and the smell of baked sweets lingered in the air. Sai had pulled off his mittens, usually with little cat symbols all over it but he still had on an apron.

"Eishi?" He seemed a bit surprised. "That was a pretty sudden visit. What's happened this time?" His gaze fell on Levi and he seemed to study him a bit. He sighed, and pulled open the door wider for both of them to step in.

"He collapsed on our way here," said Eishi. "I think it could be serious."

"And I wish you could give me a notice ahead of time! Place him on the guest bed," Sai simply stated as if everything was still in order. "I will look at him. You and your friend should take a seat while I examine the damage."

Isabel looked around the place. "That's very nice of you, but are you sure you aren't going to ask for payment first?" She furrowed her brows, looking a bit suspicious.

Sai smiled over to her, and shook his head as if to indicate a silent "No" before he glanced over to Eishi and just left. They could hear the sound of some electronical appliance being shut off, and Eishi assumed it was the oven.

He led Isabel to where the room was, holding Levi on one hand, with Isabel supporting him practically over her shoulder. It was an awkward silence between the two, as he opened the door and they both dragged the unconscious man over to the bed. It was then that Eishi realized how small of a frame that Levi really was, the guy must have been quite fragile, and yet the strength beneath his frame was amazing back when he was in action. Isabel bit her lip before she pulled the covers over him.

"If you die on me now, Levi.. I swear Farland's going to never let me hear the end of it." She let out a breath and then glanced over to Eishi. "Just so you know, he didn't save you. We were targeting those guys thanks to something they took from us initially. Are you still happy with paying for this?"

"Yeah," he said, looking at the other who seemed deep in sleep the entire time. The black locks were trembling slightly as the other seemed to be sweating a bit. "If he wasn't there, I'd be kidnapped or sold into slavery, so I already decided what I was going to do. After this, you guys can return safely."

The two drifted off into silence for one more awkward moment before Isabel finally whistled and patted Eishi on the shoulder. "I guess not all of you rich people are all that bad," she said. "I was surprised you came back from your hiding spot."

Eishi grinned awkwardly. "Had no clue where I was going anyway," he shrugged, a blush tinting up his features as he found it weird to be called brave for something so stupid.

A knock on the door frame signalled that Sai was ready to take a look at Levi. Eishi watched nervously as Levi was examined, feeling the seconds tick by as if they were really minutes. He figured that Isabel felt the same, as they watched as Sai examined the injuries.

"Pneumonia due to the weather," muttered Sai. "Huge wound, pretty deep. I will have to wrap him up in some bandages." He stood up from his position next to the bedside. "He will have to stay here for a bit," he said, and then looked to Isabel in particular. "You two can visit him as often as you will like, but he will not be recovering immediately. I recommend that he rest for at least two weeks."

Isabel blinked. "Two weeks huh? He won't like that!"

The purple haired boy of the group simply relaxed. "It means he's going to be all right then?"

Sai nodded. "Yes," He said in a kind manner. "He just needs time to recuperate, as well as other treatment."

Eishi nodded and left the room. Isabel stayed behind to question Sai a bit more, but the boy had heard enough, and was pretty exhausted himself. He glanced out the window, and saw that a Military Police officer was standing nearby, and found that he had to move straight for the couch to collapse onto it. He grew tired as the sleepiness drew him into an almost numb and comfortably warm state. It didn't help that the chimney fire nearby made soft flickering noises to further the relief and the general atmosphere of being in a safe place.

To hell with everything that happened, he thought to himself. I'll deal with it later.

* * *

><p>When he woke up, Isabel had left, and Sai handed him a note from her that simply said that he was dead meat if anything happened to Levi, and that they were going to watch him like a hawk. He couldn't help but roll his eyes up at the ceiling, and add it to the list of people who usually watched him during his private life, from love letters to school drama. Still, before all this had happened, it had been pretty boring back home. Sure, Eishi was rich and had everything that he could possibly want, and not starving out on the streets was the best way to go in this world, but he was beginning to understand why Jake went off into the slums like he did, although he wasn't sure he would be able to do that himself.<p>

Eishi looked down at the note in his hand, some scratch paper that Sai had on handy, written with smooth ink. Isabel knew how to write, but her writing was rather sloppy, leaving Eishi to believe that she hadn't much practice. He stood up from the couch and looked over at Sai, raising a hand to rub at his eyes as he resisted a yawn. "How is he?" He asked, crumpling up the note in his hand and dropping it so that it could be thrown out with the scraps.

"Mildly awake, I explained the situation to him," Sai commented, reaching over and setting down a plate of cookies in front of the other, and a glass cup of tea. "I explained to your father what was going on," he added, just as calmly. "And as for the bill, I wouldn't worry about it for now."

Eishi looked over at Sai. "Huh?"

"That kid with you is not a normal friend of yours, is he? I think he could use a little charity every now and then," Sai responded, and then left the room. The doctor was nice enough, but surprisingly rather distant when it came to being social. Perhaps that's why he was always fishing Eishi out of trouble.

He glanced over at the door to the guest room and headed to it, finding his curiosity reawakened as he peeked through carefully. Levi was lying on the bed, and seemed to be awake, but there was a towel over his head. The bedsheet covered the wound which was likely bandaged up by now, as his hands seemed to be lying in a lifeless pose above. It seemed as if the guy was deep in thought, despite the red hue over his face, which signalled that he was still under some sort of fever. When Eishi moved closer, his face turned and his eyes stared over at him, piercing sharply in a gaze that seemed more serious and more alert than any kid that he'd ever met before.

He looked over at the other, and they looked back. Eishi felt as if crickets could easily start some opera in the atmosphere that fell over them for the moment.

Surprisingly, it was the other person who broke the silence. "What do you want?"

That snapped him out of whatever speechlessness that he had felt for the moment. "I uh.. I was wondering if you wanted a cookie..." He trailed off and then changed his tactic pretty quickly, from the incredulous look on the other's face. "I'm just here to see how you're doing!"

Levi paused, and then turned his face back to the ceiling. "I'm sure he told you," he said. He made a face at that moment as if he was upset about whatever he had said.

"Sai told me that you had to stay here for 2 weeks," he added in what he hoped was a helpful manner.

"I could be gone in one. This place is filthy."

Eishi blinked at the unexpected answer, and glanced around. "Where?!"

The black haired boy raised a hand and gestured around. "It's dusty everywhere. And there is a red stain on the wall over there."

He frowned, not seeing it as he peered over and walked up close to search for the stain on the wall, he said and squinted, pointing at one dot. "You mean this one?"

"More over to your right…"

"Whoa.. I see it now!"

He stared at the wall for what looked like an eternity, clearly not sure how to get rid of it. He'd seen some of the maids work before, and he supposed they used a cloth and some of the kids back at the orphanages would use toothbrushes. But it'd been a pretty long time ago. Still, at some point he realized that it was not a good idea to let the other guy leave past doctor's recommendations. "You're supposed to stay here until you recover fully," he started. "I'll get someone to clean up the room for you."

Levi didn't answer him but he seemed somewhat more pleased with Eishi's answer.

"Also," the noble kid added. "I wanted to thank you for interfering back there. I thought I was a dead guy."

"You would have been dead," Levi answered swiftly. "What were you thinking showing up there? I know better places to commit suicide at."

He stared at the other with wide eyes when they said that. "Suicide? You can commit suicide there?" He seemed pretty worried for a moment, but if Levi noticed, he didn't comment, and he didn't feel like continuing the conversation all of a sudden. When someone pointed it out like that, it was kind of scary, in the possibility that his brother went there to kill himself. "It wasn't like that, I was just looking for someone."

Levi scoffed. "Bring one of the Military Police with you next time," he advised. "But then again, they could probably be useless too," he muttered quietly in a tone that Eishi almost didn't hear.

"Yeah, they could be," he agreed, and that seemed to put the conversation off entirely, as each of them might have found a topic in which there was no argument to be had. "Is it really that bad there?" he asked, finally. "I mean, it looked pretty bad, but I saw some people and they looked around my age."

Eishi was beginning to understand that with Levi, the other wasn't going to talk to him easily, meaning that there were going to be a lot of pauses as he tried to get the other to tell him things. But somewhere deep down, he thought that maybe it wasn't so bad, that his brother could be there for some other reason. The childish side of him thought that it was some heroic tale, and that maybe there was some important reasoning behind all of this, but his hopes were simply dashed with Levi's next, somewhat muted response.

"A target like you could have been killed by me."


	3. Back to Reality

"Hey you, out of my way!"

A shout rang out from down the hallway as Eishi collided with someone and sent books falling all over the floor. The guy seemed to be from a rival academy in comparison to theirs. Around this time, the schools were having a sports tournament and was hosting a friendly match, as well as housing the best team members from the rival school they were to be competing against. Select friends were allowed to accompany, and always proved to cause some sort of chaos somehow, since everyone seemed to be in the winning spirits.

Eishi leant over to pick up the books, but the guy simply shoved him back a bit, causing him to stumble in surprise.

"If you had moved aside, then this wouldn't have happened."

"..." He simply stared at the other as he realized that they were trying to pick a fight.

"Aren't you going to say something? Well?" The person grew impatient as Eishi glanced to the side and looked as if he were ready to dart away. "Damnit. That's it!" They raised their hand and looked about to land a punch on him, before someone stopped them with a hand on their wrist.

Jake had shown up, and accompanying him were his usual friends flanked on either side of him; two serious-faced boys called Jonathan and Mitchell. "As usual, kids from the West side of the wall seem to be overstaying their welcome. Are you actually one of the team members here or a friend of theirs?"

Eishi frowned and raised a hand to wave and get Jake's attention. "Lets just forget about this. There's a pile of books in the hallway and people could trip over them here."

Jake nodded his head over to Jonathan and Mitchell, before he looked over at Eishi. "I'll take care of this," He said, as the guy he was holding made a somewhat pained noise due to the pressure of the grip that was around his wrist. "The books will be delivered over to your room later. Run along to class now."

Eishi frowned and looked dubiously at the pile. "But - "

His brother's eyes flashed and the look on his face was quite serious, so much that Eishi broke off in the end. "Are you questioning my methods?"

He glanced over at the guy who was glaring at both of them now, but with gritted teeth, to the point that Eishi was worried that they could be in serious trouble either way if he didn't leave. Without another look, he headed over to class, dashing quickly over because he realized that he was 5 minutes late.

* * *

><p>In the classroom, all the students had already filed in. Eishi gave a nervous excuse to the teacher, and wasn't even given a slap to the wrist as he took his seat next to his best friend. They had known each other since school had started. It was to be their last year in this place, before they would grow up and choose whichever professions that they wanted. Audrey wanted to become a sort of detective one day, and coupled with both their curiosities, they would end up in tons of trouble. She was a silver haired girl with ever-dreaming irises, clear and light blue, soft spoken and the perfect companion if Eishi ever wanted a good listener. She didn't seem one bit surprised to see him late for class, as he admittedly was the type to be wandering off somewhere before he lost track of time.<p>

The teacher started the lesson, and gave a lecture, before it was time to pair up in groups for a project. Eishi had to admit that he wasn't very focused, and seeing as it was art class, there wasn't much that interested him on the subject. He looked down at his paper and started doodling what he could see of Audrey as she also attempted to draw him.

"What's wrong?" she murmured softly, her pen scratching quietly along the surface of the sketchpad.

He looked up, pausing in his own scrawls as he tried to make an outline of Audrey's bangs. They were neatly cut in a cutely sensible fashion, and Eishi knew he could trust her, but partly told her the truth because he knew she would find out some other way.

"I met someone a few days ago," he started. "I want school to be over with so I can see them."

Audrey did pause for a second, and her eyes raised to look over at Eishi curiously. "Is it someone special to you?"

He stared blankly at her, his expression clearly nonplussed. "No," he said. "He's just different," he leant in and lowered his voice so that only the two of them could hear. "I met him at the slums."

Audrey continued drawing by then, acting as if nothing had happened. "Why were you down there?" she asked, but Eishi could tell in the slight tremor of her wrist that she was a bit nervous about the idea that Eishi had gone down to the area at all.

"I was following Jake," Eishi said. "I don't know when he started, but he's been going down there lately, and apparently he's been using his fencing skills." But he was only stating this casually, as fencing skills were not necessarily good in combat. Jake on the other hand, had been training with the sword since he was 7, and probably found other ways to make use of the weapon.

She stopped questioning him then, and Eishi went back to drawing. It was as if the very conversation between the two had not happened as he focused on sketching the desk now and her form hunched over the desk in her blue blazer. The uniform was pretty conservatively made, with a skirt that hung low down to the knees, but the fabric and style was made particularly stylish as noble kids did seem to have an eye for fashion.

"The world can be a very cruel place," Audrey stated suddenly. "Don't spend too much time down there, because you will soon realize this firsthand."

It was just then that Eishi caught someone out of the corner of his eye looking at them. They had been standing in the doorway for that second, with a rather scary expression, before they walked off. "Who is that?" he hissed over to Audrey.

She didn't answer all that immediately, and in fact seemed to not have heard him for the moment.

"Audrey?"

"Their name is Charlen," she said. "New teacher in this school. But.."

Before she could continue, the school alarm rang, signalling that it was time to change classes. Eishi and Audrey stood up to gather the materials that she had set out beforehand, and Eishi helped her pack up.

"If he does anything weird to you, you know you can tell me, right?" Eishi wasn't stupid, and was pretty aware that the grownups could be rather creepy these days. Something from the man's expression wasn't just creepy, it was that and seemed to hold a bit of hostile intent as well.

Audrey gave Eishi a silent nod and they parted ways, with her words ringing in his head. He found himself thinking of Levi's words too, and wondered why he had been so drawn to the mystery behind this boy who seemed to be surrounded in a shroud of death.

* * *

><p>He walked over the streets, kicking at some stones in the way and trying not to seem too eager to approach Sai's house. It wasn't a very close distance from the school, much less his own house, but it seemed that every trip he had made as a kid was worth it. Energy seemed to invigorate him, as much as it had when he felt like there was some purpose for him to strive for. But he couldn't deny the fact that he was nervous. He felt as bad as the kid in front of him currently being chased by two other boys, who were throwing stones in his direction. He couldn't have been older than 6, and seemed desperate for a place to hide. Eishi continued to approach him, walking as if there was no dispute to be had.<p>

The kid ducked behind him, hiding from the boys and trembling nervously. He smiled over to them and waved without much of a word, then continued to walk on, feeling the stares on his frame as the boy just followed.

"What's your name, kid?" he asked the other quietly. It was pretty easy to intimidate other kids that were that young, but it also helped that he actually looked like a girl. Perhaps it confused the others for the moment, when they saw a noble guy dressed in fancy clothing, but he was pretty used to it. After all, Jake had spent years beating up other kids until everyone who knew him and their family had matured past the point of hair pulling, and hopping games. It had been weird at first, not to have people looking down on him for looking too girly.

The boy looked up at him curiously, seeming to stare at him a bit longer with wide eyes. Black hair framed emerald green eyes that swiveled towards the ground and they answered hesitantly. "Soliel," he said in a whisper. "Dad calls me Sol."

They walked down the road comfortably and Eishi sighed as he glanced upon the sun, and shielded his eyes. "Don't you have to stay home? You don't look like you go to school."

"I don't like school," the kid murmured.

"But you like walking out in this weather?"

"Yeah."

"What if it rains though?"

"It's still better than school."

"Fine, but what about home then? You can't really enjoy staying out in the rain." Eishi paused and quirked a brow. "But then again you are a kid. Hmm.."

"If I'm at home, I stay home," said Sol with a shrug. "But only if it's raining outside."

"So you're usually outside. What's the difference between school and being outside then?"

"I can run away from those jerks."

That ended the conversation right there, and Eishi found himself chuckling a bit.

Around that time, he arrived over at Sai's house, and pulled out a key that the doctor had given him. He turned to address the kid before he found that the other was missing. "Hey - " He glanced left and right quickly but the soft pitter patter of footsteps had disappeared inside the house. He let out a sigh, and closed the door behind him, before reaching into the huge sack that he had strapped to his shoulder to make sure that the materials he'd gotten from the royal library were still around.

The room that Levi stayed in looked a lot cleaner that morning. Eishi saw the kid walking around the hallways, but not doing anything more than just looking around. He shrugged, and entered Levi's room.

Levi stared over at him when he entered, still not looking in any better shape than the day before. Eishi had resolved to visit him as often as he could, so not much time had passed. After all, if he had rescued this person, he was going to make as much good use of it as he could. Not to mention, being around someone who didn't kiss your ass all the time was a good change of pace, because Jake was always being surrounded by people who looked up to him.

"Who is that?" Levi narrowed his gaze at the kid next door. There was a smell of food, something delicious that Sai had no doubt cooked.

"It's your new roommate!" He said with a cheeky grin, before glancing back from the door. "Damn, I missed dinner. Ah well," He walked over to Levi and placed the huge sack of books in front of him. "Can you read?"

In response, Levi simply picked up one of the books and read it. There was a quiet pause before both his eyebrows shot up, and he opened the book surprisingly quickly, flipping through the pages with ease.

"His lover cried out with ecstasy, as his hands wandered up her legs beneath the expensive skirt she wore," he read in an unimpressed tone.

It was then that Eishi realized that there had been some mix-up in the dropped books from the hallway that morning. He blushed and grabbed the book out of the other's hand. "W-wrong one!" He stuttered, and stuffed it back to the very bottom of pile. "Uh.. try this one."

Levi looked over at that book, and opened the pages. "Her bosom had grown ample as his hands had it's way with it. Apparently, she had been trained -"

He broke off as Eishi snatched that book back as well. "Are you suggesting something?" he asked, barely seeming to hide the amusement in his voice.

Eishi reached into the pile deep inside, and finally pulled out what looked like a title that he was familiar with. "Okay, I swear, this one is tame."

Levi was about to read that one too, when Sol burst out into laughter from nearby. "Oh shit.." Eishi just realized that he had allowed a kid to listen in on that stuff. But Sol didn't seem to mind, and in fact stumbled back into a closet in the room, his shoulders trembling with mirth. A creak was made, and before Eishi could blink, the closet was on the verge of overturning and falling on the boy.

Surprisingly, Eishi wasn't the only one who ran forward to keep the boy from being crushed. The closet was big and square, and a bit old fashioned. The clothing inside it was probably what made it so heavy as he and Levi struggled to push it back with all their might. Thankfully, it did let up as they both focused their own weight on it.

With wide eyes, the boy scrambled away from the area, and went to sit in the corner. Levi just narrowed his gaze over to the boy. "If you're going to stay here you better not do that again."

"I won't," the boy looked over at Levi with what looked like puppy eyes.

Eishi just started laughing outright at that, and he gestured for the boy to come back closer to them. "Loosen up, you two. And I was only kidding about that. He has a home to go back to."

Levi was already back in the bed by the time they had collected themselves. He was still watching them from his position, not seeming to trust sleeping with people in the room, so Eishi decided to excuse himself and drag Soliel out with him. One look at him and Eishi could tell that he seemed to have somewhat of a headache, but he also didn't make eye contact or admit how exhausted or disoriented that heroic feat had made him.

"He needs to rest. I'll read to you out in the living room."

The living room was a plush carpeted area. It was usually pretty clean, as Sai had a personal maid drop by one day every week when he was too busy to do the housework himself. He did have a lot of patients, and seemed to prioritize care over presentation, leaving the area not to look as sterile as a doctor's office, but just passed well enough to show that he was a successful and warm professional.

He took a seat on one of the maroon colored couches, and pulled out the book that he had been about to hand Levi. "This stuff is from the Royal library, and this isn't for kids," he started in as serious a tone as he could muster, staring down at Soliel who was sitting on the floor, waiting to hear what he had to say. "But I'll tell you about it anyway. Just don't have any nightmares on me." He raised a hand and opened past the intro, to the first chapter.

"This is a collection of a series of imaginary works based on the few resources we could find on Titans. But first off, what are Titans? They appeared around 500 years ago and drove humanity to the brink of extinction. The living survivors of humans grew desperate, and erected 3 walls that kept the humans safe, until this very day. No one knows how the wall was created, but it is known lovingly by the human race as Wall Sina, Wall Rose, and Wall Maria. The monsters itself walk like humans, but they are giants, with often grotesque faces, and it is said that their only way to be killed is at the nape of their necks."

Eishi looked up from his book and looked over at Soliel. "Any questions?"

The boy shook his head, his eyes wide as he then continued to read. It was a set of horror stories, about people who did bad deeds, and were sometimes executed by being thrown out into the walls for titans. Or about this one curious human who one day decided to go out past the walls, to lovers who committed suicide together. Soliel seemed rather scared as each tale was given, and Eishi found himself thinking mischievously that it was a rather cute sight for a small guy like that. Kids these days still had bad sides, but they were not all that bad, he noted.

At some point they had dropped the book, and Soliel had decided to head into the room that Levi was sleeping in. Eishi would watch the kid, and was about to ask when he would return home, but dropped the question when he saw that Soliel was holding Levi's hand.

Levi was expressionless, but still looked rather feverish and would be tossing a bit on the bed to the point that Eishi felt the urge to look away, so he did.

When Sai returned home that night, Eishi told him what had happened. "You seem to be picking up strangers all the time," the good natured doctor told him.

Eishi shrugged. "I can't help it," he said. "It's like part of me knows that they aren't all that bad deep down."

Sai nodded, but he suddenly had a far off gaze as he glanced out the window. "If only all people and beings in this world had the same instincts."

That night, Eishi stayed over at the house yet again. It didn't occur to him that at some point, it would be time for his own family to worry about him, until it happened.


	4. Attack on Nobles

_In this world, nobles have a lot of power. It doesn't mean that they are invincible, but they are guaranteed a carefree life, happy to live with everyone wrapped around their fingers. They can do anything they want, and even get away with murder._

He was a busy person, and did not usually have time to spend with his family. Most of his activities ranged from studying overnight, trying to get the top scores in his class, to making sure that people around him viewed him as someone to be admired. Jake didn't do all of this with no goal in mind, because he was preparing to follow in his father's footsteps. He wanted to take over a company which was doing rather well at the moment, and then after that he would try to become a member of the Parliament. The last one could take a while, and so to take out his stress, he had at some point decided to put his long honed battle skills to use.

It didn't occur to him that killing in self defense was wrong, but when his brother confronted him about it, he realized that there was no way he could actually tell him.

_Brother dearest, my hands are stained in blood from the filth below us in the slums. But I'm sure you understand why it was necessary? Ugh.. No, who on earth thinks that is a good idea?_

So he lived the double life to his best, trying to forget who he was in one, and who he was in the other. It wasn't like nobles around him didn't start murder plots, when they wanted to keep the public opinion focused on them as good, and not as some bloodthirsty psychopaths, or someone who made a simple mistake such as, failed to kidnap someone and witnesses were left alive to be sources of blackmail. So he went along in his own special way, just perhaps at the ripe age of 18, and with more blood on his hands than any other noble put together.

And then on the night of his brother's birthday, he was told by one of the maids that they were staying elsewhere other than his home. He didn't think anything of it, at first, and allowed the oddity to happen every night after that. When Eishi came home, they headed straight for the showers and then to class, seeming as normal as they used to be, laughing, making jokes, and trying to start another conversation with him before class had to start. But then he heard a very odd rumor circulating the school. It was simply that Jake's brother wished to join the military.

_Wouldn't that be odd? I didn't think any of us would ever try something that dangerous._

_What's the use of fighting or doing servant's work? He can't be planning to go out there and die like food, can he?_

The whispers got to him, whether he would admit it or not. He decided one day, after class, to stop his brother before he left, for wherever he did when school ended.

Unfortunately, he had left too soon before he could catch him, and that was when Jake decided that he would follow the other instead, using the Military Police to point him in the right direction.

* * *

><p>He stood in front of the officer in question, having located them in an area around the home mansion. It was not their shift to track Eishi today, and likely, another person had taken their place. This person didn't seem to care one way or another what happened and they simply just did what they could, namely watching over the every move of nobles, or playing some card game during their wide expanse of time offs. He marched over, and placed a hand on their shoulder, causing the guy's friends who had already been staring over at him to jump back. Jake had a rather intimidating presence. No one had forgotten the brat that he was back at age 6, right when he'd caused more trouble, bruises and pain for them. But more surprising was that a noble would usually take the time to address them. With the look on his face, the others probably thought that one of them was in trouble.<p>

"I'm looking for my brother, Eishi," he said in a stern tone as he all but gripped the guy's shoulder sleeve and dragged him to a standing position. "Show me where he is."

The guy paused and gulped a bit. He glanced back at his companions who were nodding quickly in a way that suggested that they would assume that it was still some kind of order, before he looked back over at the brown haired noble. "It's not my shift yet. How would I know where to find him?"

He started to walk off, and he expected the guy to follow him, which they did, the soft shuffling of footsteps trailing behind him as they headed for the roads. "My guard doesn't know. You're one of the few tasked with keeping an eye on him. I'm sure you know where he usually goes right about now, and if you didn't then you wouldn't be doing your job."

Jake glanced back with a smirk, because he knew the guy could easily be fired if they refused by now. He always got things to go his way, and the guy seemed to concede as he realized the futility of it all when talking to someone who was very close to his superior. "It's not part of my job description," he grumbled. "But it's this way."

They walked down the path, and Jake wasn't all that surprised that it took awhile. The houses were rather familiar, and more in a district that was less rich, perhaps an area that could be attacked by titans rather easily before it reached the area in which the more wealthier class lived. They were not identical, as the structure of this area allowed differences in the houses, some structures more square and others with triangle shingles supported on the top. The path was vaguely familiar to him, and it didn't take long before he realized where they were headed. He raised a hand and tapped the guy on the shoulder.

"You're free to go now," he said, authority that seemed way past his years in his stance and his expression. As a noble kid, some of them had the privilege of behaving past the current years, and he was technically considered an adult by the age of 18 anyway.

He glanced behind him, to see that his guard was hiding somewhere near some trees, and would probably continue to follow him all the way, whereas Eishi's guard simply shrugged and headed back. There was no point in questioning the mysterious actions of someone who could have you fired before they batted an eyelash.

Jake simply turned back, a disgusted look on his face. It was in a way, as if they knew everything that he was about to do and had done, and probably told stories about it to their friends, one of the other reasons he was driven to peruse the slums, simply to be in territory where they would leave him alone.

He walked the rest of the way to Sai's house, as Eishi used to bring him here whenever he got hurt, before he started using the nurse rooms and the much more convenient nearby hospital like everyone else. He raised a hand, and then rung the doorbell after walking up the neat chalk orange brick staircases. Nobody answered, and it seemed that Sai had been away from the house, as doctors did have rather busy schedules. He was going to leave, but remembered that he had not wasted his time heading this way for no reason, and placed his hand on the doorknob.

Sai's door was unlocked, much to his surprise and he entered the room, noticing that not much had changed since the last time he saw it. Walls and chairs were ridiculously full in color, in a manner that made him feel as if he had stumbled upon a huge edge of some rainbow. There was normal furniture of course, but Jake could not really say much for whoever had chosen to design the background in whatever way they did. He walked past the overly plush carpet, and looked in some of the rooms, avoiding the personal room of Sai and looking for the kitchen next. The attic was empty, as was the bathroom, and even the music room in the house was unusually pristine. His last guess for where his brother could have been was the guest room. Walking over to it, he pushed open the door, to be met with exactly who he was looking for.

Eishi was slumped in a chair, with his face buried in a book, and there was someone unfamiliar who was sat up in the bed, with a bandage over what looked like an area that had been wounded, sitting pressed up against the wall, as he looked as if he had no clue what to do.

They looked over at him, seeming to size him up with sharp eyes, and Jake stared. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?!"

Levi stared back with an equally displeased look, but before he could respond, a shifting movement at the bedside caught both their attention, a tired mumble, slur of words as Jake suddenly noticed that there was an empty beer can on the floor. "Ow, my head.. what's going on? Someone turn that rooster off."

Levi was one of the criminals in a slum that Jake had spotted back when he was down there. He was well known as he and his companions were pretty good at killing, beating up others, and even knew about torture techniques. They didn't know each other personally, but Jake simply knew that when running around that street, that it was best not to make any close acquaintances, especially people who would recognize who he was. Still, for his brother to meet someone in the slums must have meant that it had something to do with his own activities, as well as that the idiot could have been in some sort of danger the entire time that he had been away from home.

Seeing red, he simply reached over and dragged off his brother, ignoring whatever protest the other gave. The door was shut on Sai's house loudly as they would be headed away from there and headed to anywhere, but mostly as far away from this mysterious Levi as they could be.

* * *

><p>It wasn't long after school had ended, but the time seemed to blur on as he walked, and Eishi had grown to following the other silently, and Jake had no problems leading. Thoughts raced through his mind to where he could possibly bring his brother to, because they surely needed to be in a very serious discussion. They entered the school, which was open still for clubs that had after school activities, and eventually they headed to a room, wide with space enough for a football field, and an opening to the school gardens, which seemed to let air breeze in rather comfortingly. It gave good shade from the sun while lighting up the area were torches covered with glass.<p>

He would disappear into a room for a second, and Eishi would wait outside, before he grabbed what he was looking for and tossed it at the other. A sword.

"Get ready," he said, and got into a pose, before launching himself at the other, and swinging.

Clashing sounds of the two metallic weaponry echoed across the room as his brother was forced to defend himself. It was not class day, but this was the only class they shared together, and perhaps it was more relaxing than he would like to think. As he lost himself in the blur of striking and just letting metal meet metal, narrowly missing flesh, he started to speak, stepping back and pointing his sword to the other.

"I will decide if you are fit for the military," he said finally. "Someone who can't fight me and win won't do anything but die out there."

It was then that the other started to react. They jumped forward and it was the first time that they would seem to really mean it. The motions in which they struck was full of sincerity, causing his body to skid back lightly after a particularly violent hit.

He smirked, and now it was time for the counterattack, before his pose drastically changed and he went out all on freestyle, his blows soaring at the rate of someone with more strength than his shallow-like frame seemed to suggest. He ran forward, hitting quickly with enough strength to shatter vases upon impact, and seemed to imagine that there were such targets ahead of him. His brother's body was no longer human, just obstacles in his way as he aimed, faked for one side and then slashed towards the bottom.

Surprisingly, the countering sword was slashed upon the ground, on a patch of grass that ended from the slab floor to an area that extended into the courtyard opening. They had fought towards in that direction and the other had been pushed so far that they were now all the way on the other side of the room.

"Tell me," he said, breathing a little heavy, but still with about as much composure as he usually had. "What made you decide on such a foolish field to enlist into?" He raised his sword and pointed it over to the other's neck.

Purple eyes staring back at him shook slightly, as they huffed a bit and tried to respond. "To get stronger, brother. That's why," they said. "Ever since I was a kid, you've always looked after me. If I pass training there then it won't be needed."

It did not occur to Jake at that moment that the reason had something to do with him. He lowered his sword for the moment, allowing the other to retrieve the one that had been stuck into the grassy area of the dueling field.

"If you want to get stronger, then all you had to do was ask me," he said. "If you wanted to be stronger than me, I could have showed you. We fight here together all the time, when have I ever held back on you?"

His turn to defend came when his brother's sword lashed out towards his neck, and he had to jump back as rains of hits landed upon him. "Do you think this class is enough?! I.. I'm not like you anymore. I'm not even a real noble, and to hell with it. Even you know this better than I do. Or did you not just break a very important rule in the book by running at me and aiming for my legs? Out there it's not going to be so easy."

He was beginning to see the results of his training instruction beginning to be put into work from his brother, but couldn't help and feel highly insulted at that comment. _So I'm not good enough for you now?_

"That's not your only motive. I caught you trying to whore yourself out in front of this slum rat. Don't give me that innocent act! I thought you had better class than that. Or are you trying to throw away everything father gave to you by joining the recon corps like some cattle kneeling before they are eaten up like the rest of the poor out there? You could die like this with all the shame you could bestow upon us if anyone finds out!"

Apparently, that had struck a nerve, as the next blow knocked the sword out of his hand with the force of it and he was punched in the face. He didn't really give up either, mostly out of pettiness as they swung at each other, fists flying and attempting to bruise the hell out of one another. Around the time that Eishi had him in a chokehold, and he was attempting to bust the other's kneecap was when things went even more downhill.

It happened quickly, but perhaps when they both saw what it was, there was no arguing that in a second, everything could have been destroyed.

Audrey ran past them, the sound of her footsteps finally clear, before she simply just lost it and screamed. Of course, the two of them stopped fighting when they saw the state she was in, dripping blood and shaking like a leaf. In fact, they had never seen so much blood in their life, and didn't fail to notice that her hand was missing. She had fallen to her knees, as if the presence of her best friend was the only thing that kept her from continuing to bolt, but didn't seem to be any better, even when Eishi seemed rather worried.

"What happened to you?!" he cried out. "Who did this to you? Was it..?"

"Everything's over.. everything is going to end.. I'm going to die and …" she trailed off, tears streaming down her face, and refused to answer anything that his brother asked.

Jake turned around, and that was when he saw it.

His blood froze, or rather everything around him seemed to slow down in that very second. Of course, what could really strike fear into his heart like this but a titan? He'd never seen one before, but a finger was dangling from it's mouth before it dropped to the floor, as simply as if it were a dog who had been playing catch.

_How is this possible? Has the walls collapsed? No, it couldn't be, they said that nothing would get past Wall Rose, and if something's happened then Wall Maria should have gone down first._

But there it was, standing like a nightmare as it suddenly ran over to him with inhuman speed, raising a hand and swiping over at his body. He only had time to react before he flew into a wall, the force likely causing some of his ribs to crack as he hit it. And that was when he was picked up. He didn't know why, but there was a sword in his hand, simply because he had reached for it at the last moment as if clinging to some sort of lifeline, but his grip trembled as the mouth opened, and then something in him seemed to shatter at that moment.

He raised his sword and began carving at the monster's face with slashes, furiously as if he was clawing out it's upper lip. The other continued to try and bite him but he kicked and cursed at it as if he knew that once those jaws clamped down upon his body that it would be the end of it all.

_How dare it.. How dare this monster show up NOW?!_

He was beginning to lose his strength as the grip of the monster's hand suddenly enclosed on him, putting a lot of pressure over his form, and his sword ended up battling with those fingers.

"The nape of it's neck.. Get the nape of it's neck!" Eishi's voice cried out distantly, but he didn't listen and couldn't hear anything. He was only dropped after an eternity, but by then he had fallen to the ground, unconscious.

_They are going to get everything.. It's over._

* * *

><p><em>An: TBC. Stay tuned for chapter five._


	5. Prisoner Status

It was a scene of some nightmare, as he watched helplessly as his brother was picked up and about to be eaten. Eishi was frozen to the spot for a moment, unable to think of what to do, but seeing it brought a sense of hopelessness to him. He felt the oppressive air of the first time that a beast had him at it's complete mercy, and while he had read this so many times before, he was still unable to move his legs. That is when Jake cried out and lashed back, spurring him into some sort of action. It was as if he was reminded that they were no longer objects, held in a hand like some hopeless toys before their heads popped off, and that the very reason that he sought to become a soldier was to help protect his family. It wasn't just his brother that was going to be dead in a second, it was the person who protected him since he was young, without fail and over and over again. To see this happen to that person, no matter how bad they were, was enough to make him move forward.

He ran and struck at the titan's leg with his own sword, trying to find a way to distract them before they could finish the deed. "The nape of it's neck. Get the nape of it's neck!" he cried out, and he launched forward to try that. He discovered that even at it's height, and it wasn't actually the biggest giant from what he'd heard of, he still missed. The only hope was for Jake to get free and then they would run off and get help, and to do that they needed to be out of it's grasp.

Surprisingly, the second stab was dodged unusually quickly, and the titan jumped back, only to look over at Eishi. He raised his sword, just as Jake was dropped from it's grip, landing unconscious upon the ground, looking as if one of his arms had been snapped awkwardly from the crushing grip.

"What are you doing?!" A voice cried out from nearby. "Get them, they are right in your grasp so finish them off already!"

Eishi looked for the sound of the voice, but he couldn't spot the person who was hiding around. _Wait a minute, is that a human talking to that thing?_

He looked back at the titan, and for a second, something in them made him pause, the way they were standing as if they were some sort of cornered animal. But then a huge animalistic roar emerged from the form, causing wind to be blown out, and Eishi had to cover his ears as his body was almost lifted back by the force of it.

The cries continued on and on, but they didn't stop, until the titan had simply picked up Jake's fallen blade on the floor and stabbed himself. Blood rained from above, showering him endlessly, and for a second, he thought that maybe it would be acid. It was warm, but that was far from it.

He realized at some point that he was still able to see, but wished immediately that he hadn't looked.

On the floor, lying in a fading titan's corpse was Soliel. The sword that he had grabbed from Jake on the floor was now back in it's respectful lying spot, near it's owner as it had dropped out of the titan shifter's hands once he had stabbed himself into the nape of the neck with it, apparently slicing through to his real form. He was in the same outfit that he had when Eishi had walked him home that night, perhaps another color of red, as if someone had dressed him up for battle or some sickeningly twisted festive reason, and thankfully his eyes were closed, the same deep green that the other would not be able to look at anymore.

He fell to his knees, unable to believe the sight before him, his hands trembling as he just stopped thinking for the moment. There was an odd wave of pain that washed over him, seeming to sink into his form like the bloodstains all around. His eyes were simply glued to the person in front of him, at the fragile body that looked as if it was sleeping. He could not have dragged himself and his brother out of this mess, because by the time that he started realizing where he was, someone had already rang a bell, sounding some kind of alarm throughout the school. Someone else was frantically explaining to some teachers that someone had murdered a kid until his disbelief faded into despair.

This was how the Military Police found them, no one able to move, with a dead person in a pool of blood, and no trace of who the real murderer was, but of course, he knew the truth.

_So, this is what killing someone feels like,_ he thought as he looked into apathetic expressions with guns raised in their direction.

* * *

><p>He had nothing to say to his parents, and his brother was already talking to them. The military police didn't seem to care one way or another what happened, though a few of them seemed surprised at what had happened. So he told one of the guys there, a friendly one who had watched over him for a long time that he wanted to speak to one particular person who currently resided in Sai's house. He was going to talk to Sai too, but he figured that he would give Levi a heads up before he was gone, possibly forever. Jake had hardly spoken a word about it, but he was clearly grim from the icy expression since that morning. He had been treated with some kind of bandage, and an arm cask for the moment, because while they were now branded as criminals, their lineage still allowed them some type of leeway.<p>

The officer that had followed him over stated in a gruff voice, after knocking on the door and greeting the doctor. "This kid asked me to let him have a few words with someone."

Eishi would smile at him, though he didn't actually seem happy or warm either. Inside, he was actually scared of what would happen. "Thanks again, Stan," he said to the other. "I really owe you one now."

Stan looked down at the kid from his helmet, his mustache twitching but downwards as he grimaced. "Don't let those be your last words, kid." He actually looked as if he were in his late twenties, but had never been promoted because he didn't behave like most of his other comrades in arms, who were always involved in card games and illegal activities. Eishi had easily found that he could relate.

Sai looked over to Stan, and then to Eishi before they both headed to the couch nearby to discuss the situation. "What's going on? I must say I've never spoken with one of your officers before."

"There's another noble family pressing charges against us," he said to the other. "They say I've murdered their son, and so we are going to have a court hearing on the issue. I may not come back from this, so I thought I'd say goodbye."

He must have looked like he was about to cry, because Sai simply hugged him when he had finished speaking. He felt the tremors rise from his frame again and didn't move for a second, his grip clenched tight into fists as he tried to calm himself down, before he slowly raised his arms and hugged back, leaning onto the other's shoulder. "Is Levi all right?" he asked after a while.

Sai drew back and nodded, not questioning him on the matter, as Eishi had expected. "He is in the guest room as usual. Today is his last day here, as he has recovered sooner than I expected."

Eishi couldn't find the words to express his gratitude, but as he turned over to the doorway to enter, he found that the other was already standing there, watching them with his arms crossed.

The doctor was cheerful, despite the situation. "I didn't expect him to break the news to you like this," he said calmly.

"I wasn't expecting to hear anything," Levi countered, and his gaze turned over to Eishi. "Why are you here?"

Eishi paused and opened his mouth to say something, before he ducked his head. "I wanted to let you know that Soliel's dead," he said in a soft whisper.

There was of course, a long silence when Levi took that in. Eishi looked up to see that the other seemed slightly shocked, but he had already reached over his pocket, and pulled out a dirty rag. It was a piece of Soliel's clothing, that he had sliced off of the other at some point. "I'm sorry," he said, holding it out to him as if it were proof.

Surprisingly, Levi reached over carefully and picked up the cloth before pocketing it after folding it carefully. "You don't have to explain," he said. "That kid seemed to be asking for trouble and he wasn't careful."

He smiled at the bittersweet taste of the entire situation. "No, he wasn't."

Levi then glanced over at the Military Police and his look darkened, but he did raise his hand in a wave to Eishi before walking off, cloak and everything with his confiscated gear hidden as well as his face.

* * *

><p>The courtroom was full of grim faces, serious expressions watching their every move. Eishi stood next to Jake, feeling for once, the impact of the situation. His representative had been unable to get the family to drop the charges, but he would have felt a lot better if Charlen hadn't been Soliel's father. The man was not staring at any of them this time, but he seemed to be in a worse mood than before, judging by the way he handled some of the servants that had accompanied him over. When he caught Eishi looking at him, that was his cue to look away, pretty sure that whatever he saw there would be the same. But this time, he would note that the man also had green eyes.<p>

With a bang of the mallet, the meeting started, and the judge looked down at the two kids as he asked a few questions.

First, he looked to Jake.

"I'm sure you boys are aware of the situation you are in, so lets hear your explanations."

Jake would seem to pale up a bit, and his throat seemed to clench up just slightly before he answered. "I thought I had seen a titan," he said finally.

Murmurs of disbelief rose from the crowd as people seemed to express their discontent with him from around. A pastor of one of the wall groups simply stood up from his seat and cried out.

"That is hearsay. Nothing can get past the great walls that protect us. And you are saying that something, much less a titan has?!"

The representative for Charlen simply smirked, as he cleared his throat. "I would like to point out, your honor, that this man has been known for bullying other kids since the age of 7, and regularly visits the slums district at night."

Eishi found that he was getting upset as he listened to all their secrets being thrown out into the air, and was about to speak, when more was spoken on the conversation, as their representative seemed to notice that Eishi was about to speak out of turn.

"While it is true that he was quite the delinquent, there was a drastic turn around the age of 12. Jake has then started to excel in his studies, and it was known by some of the classmates that he did not just make efforts to be on friendly terms with others, but protected them as well."

That turned the tide later, but there was still some sort of confusion. Generally, the crowd had died down to listen to what the judge had to say on this matter. He looked over at Eishi.

"We are here to determine the fate of the both of you. This is actually a very unusual situation you two are in, but the first decision is either to send you both to jail for life, or, to immediately employ you to the Recon Corps."

Eishi and Jake stared at the judge, their gazes widened in disbelief.

Their representative ended up speaking again. "We have received the offer on a short notice, after some evidence that they discovered. Apparently, there were faint imprints of giant footsteps on the blood, suggesting that the three of them have encountered a titan. And for them to survive, it makes them eligible to receive military training, specifically so that they will then be transferred to the field. Also, it is quite easy to note that both these men are actually quite adept in combat compared to their classmates, according to testimony by some of their instructors."

And true enough, their fencing instructor stood in the audience. "It is true," he said, in a somewhat strained tone. He seemed nervous to be in front of an audience at the moment, and his gaze seemed to dart towards the military police. "Jake is my best student."

The other representative for Charlen started to speak up in an offended tone. "Your honor, there is no way for it to be a good idea to send two criminals suspected of killing a human out there."

"Blasphemy!" Said the man from the wall. "Only the great walls erected by the goddess can protect us. No unholy beast can pass - "

With the rapid lowering of a mallet, the man was silenced as the Judge cast a steely gaze upon him. He looked over at Eishi just then.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" he asked.

All eyes were on him, and he simply felt the glares around the room as if the very decision rested from what he explained. Even Jake seemed to want to nudge him to say the right thing, as he silently mouthed the words 'tell the truth'.

He simply looked to the judge and said. "Nothing, your honor. I cannot excuse what I have done, and will take whatever punishment is given to me."

The judge looked over at him for a long while, and then sighed. "They will spend the night in a jail cell, but the evidence of a possible rogue titan cannot be overlooked. With advanced supervision from a member of the Recon Corps, they are to be trained and then sent there immediately. If at any point the supervisor reports that their skills are inadequate, they will be sent to jail without bail for life."

* * *

><p>Both of them sat together in the corner of the jail cell. They had been sent to a room that was separate from the actual jail cell where the other criminals would gather. Eishi suspected that it was his father's doing that kept them from any actual harm for the moment, because it didn't really seem as if they were truly serving a punishment just yet. This was only true for him, however, because Jake on the other hand didn't seem one bit enthused, and treated the situation as if he had been given a death sentence.<p>

There was a knock upon the metal gate, and Eishi looked up to see one of the officers over there. Audrey was standing behind it, her missing hand wrapped up in bandages as well. Eishi was beginning to think that he was getting too used to seeing tragedy, even for the standards of an adopted kid.

She walked over to them, and nodded over to the guard with a smile, before he left to give them some private moment.

"I wanted to submit my testimony to the court," she said. "But I couldn't."

Eishi simply shook his head. "You were passed out, and I'm pretty sure you told them what you could have." He looked over to Audrey and placed a hand on her shoulder. "How are you healing?"

She glanced down at his hand, and then looked to the floor. "I am fine for now," she said. "But I have decided not to divulge my reasons for defending you. I told them I saw the titan, but that wasn't the one who tried to murder me."

He grimaced, as he was pretty sure by now what had happened. "Charlen," he said finally. "You're going to go after him?"

Audrey wouldn't say anything for that moment, and her own string of silence seemed to filter to the room. "I have to get us out of this mess," she said after biting her lip. "But if I try now then I'm sure it will be all over for us. I will graduate soon, and after I become a detective, I will be able to officially investigate. Until then, you two will have to do whatever can be done."

It was then that Jake spoke up. "What can be done?" he asked hollowly. "We were faced with a titan and we couldn't do a thing." He seemed somewhat shaken, and Eishi heard something watery beneath his voice, as if it were on the verge of breaking.

He reached out and placed a hand on Jake's shoulder, before saying in as calm a voice he could manage. "We'll be fine Jake. You have to believe me this time."

"I don't know what to believe right now," Jake responded, but he didn't look at his brother. "I know that logic is on our side, but I still feel like I'm going insane."

His grip tightened over the other lightly, squeezing in a reassuring but firm manner. "Don't believe anything," he said simply. "Who knows what could have happened? But for me, I've actually thought a great deal about this. So I'll get the both of us through it."

They didn't relax just yet, but Eishi had been rather certain for that moment and had made up his mind on what to do. _This time, I'll protect you. Brother._


	6. Silent Staring Contest

Training turned out to help others with practical things, without giving either of them experience that Eishi had faced back when they were up against a real titan. But what it did right was to teach him how to use the 3d maneuver gear. He'd recognized it the moment that he saw it, and since then he would think of Levi, wondering what he was up to down in the slums. He probably had a good idea of how he acquired the gear illegally, as he was pretty well aware of the corruption in the military police, thanks to listening to Stan complain about it. He'd spoken to Eishi back then how he was better off in the Recon Corps. It was how he grew up to foster this idea that true honorable fighting pitted someone up against true danger. While under his brother's protection, he ended up realizing that fighting was something that he inherently desired. It built up until this very day, but instead of anger, it was simply a way to prove that he could protect what he desired to keep safe.

Days passed and he noticed that Jake seemed to be warming up to the idea of going out there to fight creatures that were three times as tall as they were, but deep down inside, he wondered if there was another reason that he decided to go along with the sentence. _Do you really like to kill that much? _

He'd never spoken it out loud to the other, but he figured that if he did direct his anger at titans, then it would be for the better.

Before he knew it, the graduation ceremony happened. He showed up to witness the recruiters speaking, and saw firsthand the power that was Erwin Smith. This person, the leader of the recon corps was rumored to be responsible for every success that has been had so far, such as discovering the only weaknesses of the titans and verifying it. New research had given others hope, and it did help that the newer members of the project seemed to be more experienced at exactly what they were doing. All this gave him the feeling that humanity itself could survive, and that what he wanted to keep safe would remain so.

"Have you ever seen a titan up close?" Erwin asked the military students who were deciding on whether to become a military police or otherwise. "The recon corps has the job of handling them, and while it is true that many casualties exist in our force, it is all for the progress of humanity so that they may one day rise from the walls. We have just started to be successful in this. With the help of aspiring new members, we have made some progress in studying titans, as well as figuring out ways to avoid casualties when travelling abroad. In joining this group, you will be placing yourself in great danger, but also you will stand for hope. A lot of people will tell you that the hope is limited, and they could be right. But if they could be wrong, then there is a lot more to gain from it. For instance, have you ever wondered what would happen if the walls were to fall this day? Theoretically speaking of course, we as humans would we wiped out from the face of the planet, as if we never existed. That is why the recon corps exists. I started this group because I want the memory of humanity to prevail so that future generations can continue, but that is not the only thing. We have a goal in ensuring that the titans are no longer a threat to us, period. If you want to see for yourself what you could lose, then join the recon corps, because you might end up discovering how much there is to save."

He glanced to the side, and witnessed some of the people listening to Erwin. There was a blonde haired girl who seemed to be smiling particularly at Erwin's speech, and determination shone in her gaze, with some other faces of people who looked mildly serious or even amused.

No one spoke out of place when Erwin addressed the group, as his status was still of that to be respected, not simply for his position but also his charisma.

And then he saw them, spotted out in the crowd, standing off to the side and looking as if they would rather be elsewhere. Levi was standing next to Isabel, and looked to be listening to something that a blonde haired boy was saying next to him. When he caught Eishi's gaze, their eyes met for a second. The other showed no recognition of him, but his gaze lingered on him, matching as if to acknowledge that they had seen him before he returned to look over at Farland, and then over to Erwin.

He decided then and there that he would wait until after the meeting was over before approaching them. There were graduates in the crowd already asking a few questions, trying to weigh in their mind whether they wanted to join, and he knew from this that the meeting was nearing it's end.

"Yes?" Erwin directed his gaze over to the blonde girl.

"How likely is it that you can successfully kill titans if you were to join the recon corps?" She asked.

The commander looked over to the girl and smiled as he seemed to take note of the way she seemed eager. "A lot of that depends on luck," he said to her. "But if you survive enough times, then it is very likely that you will be able to face the next one without problems."

Everyone fell silent after that, and filed out of the area, as the briefing had been done and they were given time to think on the matter. Eishi thought that the way Erwin made it sound was pretty good, and began to feel more hype on the issue than he did before, until he heard what Levi said.

"It's easy enough to boast about progress, and the skills of the recon corps. But when it comes to the reality of it, most of us will die."

"Don't say that! There's no way we can possibly go down if they went through all that trouble to recruit us," Isabel piped up. "We'll get through this job for sure, right Farland?"

The blonde haired boy smirked over at the considerably grumpy man. "That isn't like you, Levi. Are you worried for the death count?"

He simply closed his eyes and let out a sigh in response. "His nice guy attitude is seriously misleading," he simply stated, and then darted his gaze over at Eishi who was eavesdropping. "Are you just going to stand over there like that?"

It was then that he realized that all the people had left the meeting, and he was practically alone with the three of them in the ceremonial area. He chuckled, raising a hand to hold the back of his head as he walked over.

"I just didn't think I would see you again," he said to Levi, and then looked over to Isabel. "How is he doing? Keeping out of injuries and hospital bills?"

Isabel grimaced. "Don't get smart on us. That was only a one time thing."

Farland had to agree with that. "We can't really afford to survive on professional treatment."

"I know, I know," he stated in an easygoing manner. "But I really don't understand how you guys decided to join the recon corps."

"I could say the same for you," Levi responded. "I didn't picture you as the fighting type."

Eishi made a face and leant back in the air as he let out a sigh. It occurred to him that he could discuss to Levi what had happened, but he didn't want to reveal what had happened in front of the other two. Besides that, he figured that they would have already guessed, granted that Levi would have told them. But what was done was done in the past, and as long as he had earned the right to fight, then he wasn't going to question it. "No one does until it's too late, but to be honest, I've just graduated from training myself."

"You're just in time to fight with us then," Isabel stated, adopting her own relaxed pose with elbows out in the air behind her neck.

Eishi looked at them and gaped. "Really?" he asked, sounding disbelieving for a moment.

Farland nodded. "We're heading over there directly, and bypassed the training. And from what I've seen from some of the classes in that area, it looks like I could help them out a bit."

He started to grin slowly, before turning away to hide the mischievous look over his expression. It was exciting to think that he would be able to show his friends someone like Levi. "Sounds like a party then! I'll look for you in our first mission tomorrow."

Isabel rolled her eyes. "You better not hold us back," she warned.

"The new enrollees have not even started their first mission yet," Levi said, his eyes narrowed over to the grinning one. "How do you even know what will happen?"

"People talk," Eishi said. "It's the usual deal when you start actually. They send you out pretty soon when a mission objective is available."

He was interrupted by a friend of his by then who had been looking for him around the ceremony area, informing him of the curfew time. Eishi abided by all the rules of his training without fail, so he promptly bid goodbye to the three and left for the night.

They were staying nearby the room of the three that Eishi had seen that one fateful day at the graduating ceremony. He was bunked with his brother, and it was a first come first serve basis on how the rooms were alotted. At this time in the night, Jake was still awake, poring over letters that Audrey had written. It was unusually easy to think that his brother was just innocent with such a worried and concerned expression on his face. He lay down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to count the spots and dots that he saw there, but every now and then he would turn to glance at the other. The movement of paper was pretty faint, a small pen knife being used to cut open the contents, as one was pulled out after another. Audrey was not a huge talker. So far, Eishi figured that her letters actually sounded like military reports. She informed them about their mother and father and the state of the nobles.

_A huge uproar at the south corridor of this building. Two students fistfought over your names, one insisting that you deserved what had happened. Your mother and father are distraught with worry. Lots of tissues were purchased on the day of your enrollment. The room you guys are in has been preserved and cleaned daily for your return. Officials show up at your father's doorstep all day. Almost all of them seem to have developed greying hair. Charlen has convinced people at the Walls to bless your family. Be careful if he gets involved too deeply._

This was how the first letter sounded, to which Jake kept at the table. Other people in the bunk space left them alone, and did not ask questions when the table was delivered that day, but only because everyone in the area left them alone when it came to money matters. It was easy to see why Jake could afford a desk in this room, whether he needed it or not. There was a lock in the drawer and he was the only one who had the key to it. He probably kept his diary in there too, seeing as it was only one of the few resources in which they could keep private things in.

"So, what is she talking about now?" he asked his brother, finally just keeping his gaze point blank in his direction.

"The amount of love letters that have been spotted being written to us," he said. "And details of every person spotted writing it. She has a keen eye on detail, as usual."

He nearly fell out of his bed at that. It was around that time when people thought of love matters, things that seemed so far away now that they were going to be soldiers fighting titans. Still, it wasn't hard to notice the blush on his face, as he wondered exactly where those letters had gone. It wasn't out of the ordinary to receive them because, naturally, good looking and rich guys would have at least a handful of admirers. The problem came when you were suddenly enlisted (forcefully) into the recon corps, a division of the army where even a peasant can turn down their nose upon you. So likely, those letters would never be sent.

In the moment of awkwardness that suddenly resided over them, and it seemed that Jake was not going to describe the contents of the letter, anyway, he simply glanced over to the doorway. "It's a pretty nice sort of luxury we have here," he stated. "Do you think you're ready to go out there again? This could be our last day any day now."

A loud slam of the drawer signalled the ending of the reading, and Jake screeched back from his chair, before standing. "I thought so too," he said. "But I think there is a way that we can heighten our chance for survival."

This statement caused him to look back at his brother, who was now pacing back and forth from one end of the room to another. "A lot of it will require the proper skills, but I think we should form a strategy as well. Death comes in the form usually of aberrants. A lot of the titans seem to have varying differences, based on what we saw from one of our fellow soldiers' sacrifices. This lead me to thinking that some of them will actually behave unpredictably as a similar way of humans. If you pictured then, one of us being rather tall and giant, then you can figure that what they are doing is like a form of punching when they reach out and grab at us, and the way that they are attacking us from behind is like swiping at a fly buzzing around their head."

The pacing finally stopped, leaving Eishi smirking as he watched his brother. "Just let me in on the fun already."

*Levi's POV*

I was standing down the hallway at some point, but before I knew it, I was back at that same point, staring at the sky. We've seen it a lot down in the gutters, surrounded by filth, concrete floors which were unsanitized due to the years in which gutter rats like us would be forced to live in. I could understand a little bit, while sitting on the rooftops, with the stars almost within my reach, why Farland preferred to stay out of trouble. At first, I thought it was a pretty shitty deal. I was a bit hotheaded at that time, having heard of that Erwin this and Erwin that from all the other students, and it was getting to me. I was pretty used to getting my way with my skills, so having someone beat my face into the water, and then threatening to kill my friends while making me work for him kind of stabbed me right where it hurt when it came to honor.

I started getting used to it, and held in my urges. It was pretty easy, because nobody seemed to be able to tell the difference. I just thought that I'd trust Farland and everything seemed a little more easier to get through.

The stars looked more far off tonight than usual, but that was the last thing on my mind. Someone had been watching me. I couldn't tell who it was, but this person was pretty good at hiding themselves. I don't think any of the people down in the slums could follow me this far and that was as far as my social life went region wise. As for the military police? Well, they really didn't show up in this area. Unless some of them grew a spine and practiced a lot, I don't think they could pull off whatever this person was doing right now, and that was somehow evading my senses while stalking me.

I heard the footsteps walk up, more certain, slightly hesitant as if there was something they were guilty of. I smirked to myself and reached to my side.

Just as a hand was placed on my shoulder, I had a dagger pointed straight at their neck. I narrowed my eyes into slits as I saw who it was. "You. What do you want?"

Eishi's brother Jake, stood over there, looking a bit shocked at my speed and I felt a bit smug as I saw his face pale as if he'd seen some sort of unusually gruesome looking titan. This guy naturally had the demeanor and look as if he would turn up his nose at everyone around him. It was just a bit funny to see him unsure of himself, not that I was really one to complain about it.

We haven't spoken a word to each other since we were there, but I did notice that he refused to say anything. I hardly saw him much, it was as brief as a once a month occasion and I hoped to keep it that way.

He pursed his lips, the noble brat looking as if he had been insulted. Well no shit, if you're going to creep up on me and I don't know you, you're not going to get the best of welcomes.

"I came here to apologize," he started.

I raised an eyebrow. "For what? Not that I don't appreciate the sentiment but we're pretty much strangers."

He just looked at me for a long while, as if he were thinking of what to say. "For underestimating you and thinking that you were just someone who belonged in the gutter. I didn't mean to tell you this, but since we're going to be working together tomorrow, I figured I'd get it out of the way."

I didn't know whether to be insulted or amused, so I just didn't say anything. We stared at each other like that, locked in a match of some sort. At some point I figured that he was actually not trying to look down on me, and I turned away, looking back at the stars.

Footsteps signalled that he was walking off, and I went back to sitting on the roof.


	7. Aberrant

When he showed up at the site, he was surprised to see that the outside lands looked surprisingly normal. It resembled a bit of the area inside the world, but he had never thought the feeling would be as if he were right at home. It was going to be their first mission, and Eishi glanced around, unable to help but think that the groups being sent out were a bit small. Levi was partnered with Isabel and Farland, and he with his brother and a blonde haired girl named Petra. He noticed that she kept looking in Levi's direction, and seeming to have a curious frown upon her expression, but didn't really comment on it. Since she had joined the recon corps, Petra had become his friend in a way, even though he mostly kept his distance due to the many different views that nobles had with commoners. Sure, he had some understanding friends, but it wasn't at all as it had been when they were in training.

"Are you nervous?" He asked in a low whisper to the other.

She paused, and glanced at him. "Eh?"

He tried to do his best not to roll his eyes and gesture towards the man she had been staring at, as if she was trying to solve some kind of puzzle. In the short time here, everyone had heard of Levi, and there were already rumors that he would rise to the top of his rank in no time. "You seem a bit distracted," he said.

Petra paused, and then beamed. "A bit," she said, but to him it sounded and looked as if it were some sort of excuse.

It wasn't long before the director ordered the first expedition to begin, and in fact it interrupted Eishi's conversation, as Jake seemed intent on pointedly ignoring them during the entire time that it happened. He knew his brother was used to socializing, but his mouth was pressed into a thin line this time, gazing over into the horizon, as if waiting to spot the titans as they all stood in front of the huge gate that had been exited not so long ago.

They rode off towards the plains in the formation that had been taught during class. Eishi and the other's kept their eyes ahead of the road, and it was unusually quiet for the moment. He now knew what it felt like to have one foot out of the walls. It was weird to see so many trees in the distance, because he'd hardly thought of looking past the walls, and the few times that he chanced it was not very memorable.

"So far it looks as if things have gone as planned," said Jake, staring seriously up over at the sky. "Look, the green signal flares are rising." He reached beside him and pulled out the gun, but Eishi would notice that his grip was trembling a bit. "We better send ours up as well."

"What's the objective of this mission anyway?" asked Eishi.

Petra answered for them, as the flare shot up. "We're going to be heading into a forested area, looking for clues in the habitat to study the titans. But I heard rumors that we are going to try and capture two of them."

"..." There was silence from all three of them.

"I know I shouldn't be disappointed," said Eishi. "But I was expecting a little more blood."

"That time will come soon enough," Jake stated, his expression seeming gloomy.

* * *

><p><em>Should the area be crowded with people, we will be bound to confront them sooner, we were told.<em>

They were standing in front of a stream, and Isabel was practically beaming. "The water!" she cried, placing her hands in it. "Look, Levi. It's so clean!"

Levi turned away as Farland started to drag Isabel off. "We're not here to play games," he said, pretending to be disinterested. He then pointed over to Jake and Eishi, standing in the background, as well as Petra. "You two, what are you standing there for?" He seemed to pointedly ignore reprimanding Petra, who had already started walking off towards the trees.

"We either climb or use our arrows. I'm sure you know how to get all the way up there. Hurry up because everyone else is already halfway there."

Eishi frowned, but nodded anyway. "Right!"

The branches were huge, the oaks having reached so tall that it was almost hard to see where they ended. Eishi raised his hand and instinctively the 3d maneuver gear strings launched itself at the tree. He felt like he was flying as the hooks sank into the bark and he lifted. He ended up landing in an area away from Jake, but was able to see the other off in the distance. Still, he was nearby some of the other new recruits, who were talking a bit lightheartedly.

"Can't wait to see a titan," said one of them. "I need to practice my new moves. My sword is getting rusty." Eishi winced as he had to wonder what the other meant, seeing as he had just enlisted and was one of the new faces that he'd briefly spotted. "Too bad the more experienced guys get to play bait. We have to stand here and watch."

_When a titan starts appearing, some of them will run fast. Others will walk. We basically want just one or two that seems weak._

A scream distracted him from his thoughts, and suddenly, he noticed that one of the girls had witnessed something horrific and had fallen out of the tree, to be cornered. She had apparently been standing too close and had injured herself from the fall, unable to move as her ankle was twisted and the titans nearby were starting to crawl their way over. He panicked and swung his way towards her. "Hey you. What are you doing. We were told to stay put!"

He didn't listen, but someone had already made their way up close. It was Petra, doing her best to try and fend off the beasts from preying on the girl. She maneuvered her way expertly, already taking down a few titans, but she wasn't alone. Levi and Farland were trying to help her out, blades flashing and glinting in the sun, as blood from the napes of the titan's neck would splash upon the grass. Isabel was nowhere to be found.

He started to feel numb for a second, but he jumped when there was a tap on his shoulder. Jake had landed stealthily beside him while he was watching, mouth agape, standing on a lone tree branch.

"It should be fine," he stated. "Look, Petra has already gotten her to a safe place."

He turned to smile at the other before he suddenly caught sight of a giant hand making it's way up from the branch.

_The best way to handle a titan is to team up. Luckily this aberrant was only good at climbing trees._

Without noticing it, he had dashed forward and his blade jabbed into the titan's wrist. He hacked like a madman, taking a few more strikes to entirely dislocate it, hoping that it would cause the monster to fall right back. It seemed that they had encountered an aberrant. The other hand simply clung to a branch, and the ugly face staring at them seemed to be swinging upon the bars, launching itself like a monkey with it's ever present smirk as the hand stump raised, getting ready to slam into him. It was as if the beast's hand had not been dislocated at all, as if this one could not feel pain. He flung out an arrow and dodged, lifting himself backwards out of the way.

Jake had already removed himself from the previous position that he'd been standing in. His blade sliced back at the titan's neck, digging in two scars in the back. Unfortunately, it was not deep enough, and he had to jump back as the regenerated hand reached out to swat at him.

Now it was his turn, and he slammed his body into the titan from the back, driving his sword into an area close to the back of it's spine. One could say that he attempted to stab right into the sensitive area, if they were looking at it from behind. "Got you!" He cried out. "That ought to piss you off."

Jake returned to aiming at the monster's neck, and it was over. Blood flew from the air in two spurts of streams, but the other seemed to have regained his viciousness. There was no hesitance in the last slash as he spotted his brother's legs perched from behind on top near the base of the giant's neck. They both drew back, landing on an even lower branch, as the body seemed to freeze in slow motion, and then dropped from the branches it had been playing swing from.

"We have to get back up," Jake breathed out, the exertion of being flung around, using one's bodily strength and taking down a titan seeming to take it's toll on him.

Without another move, he picked up the protesting Eishi, flinging him over his shoulder and darted back up towards a higher branch. "Wait a minute. It's not like those other things down there can climb up!"

The two of them headed back from the trip, right as night fell, but Eishi could not help but feel that something was a bit off. There was no talk of having captured any titans, and as a matter of fact, there seemed to be more talk of the dead bodies that had piled up.

* * *

><p>Erwin Smith simply escorted Levi into a room.<p>

This was not a simple meeting between the two of them, but it really didn't take long before the other had attempted to attack him. After the death of his friends, the plan had fallen apart, which left the boy nothing left to take on but his vengeance. He'd witnessed firsthand, however, the skill that Erwin had, and it turned out to be futile. Usually, in this case, Levi could have been tried for treason, but he still had other plans for this boy.

"Are you going to speak up for yourself while I'm here?" he asked, after a steely silence had enveloped them. "You were always a pretty difficult one. I'm sure you don't want me to force it out of you again."

"..." Still nothing, but Erwin probably knew the gist of what had happened. After all, he had kept a rather close eye on the group. He sighed, and drew his blade, before pointing it at the other. "Very well. Lets have another match."

Unexpectedly, Levi started speaking up. "You knew this would happen," he accused, his eyes narrowed at the other. "We were forced into this from the beginning."

"Inevitably, this will happen to more than just them," Erwin stated. The situation could not simply be handled delicately with this boy. "Sacrifices have to be made -"

"Bullshit." It was spat out quietly but the venom did not leave the boy's tone. "We could have escaped prison. This is different."

"Sacrifices were made to atone for the crimes that you committed, Levi," Erwin said. "Did you really think we would stop once you escaped whatever cell they held you at? You have talent and I was willing to use whatever means necessary because the recon corps needs that. And I understand very well what it feels like to lose people you care about. But it will keep happening and it will not end until humanity manages to restore it's land."

He was at his breaking point, still picturing his friend's faces, all for the sake of some cause that this man he couldn't kill was willing to use him for, but the changing point came when that same hand was placed on his shoulder, and he was pulled into a hug.

It was not something he felt often in his life, as he'd naturally kept his distance until now. He stiffened up, but the usual reaction to knee the other in the gut was kept at bay from the bruises the previous struggle had gotten him. Instead, he just hissed out, but felt oddly sad. The anger that threatened to boil over him, was kept at bay by the next words.

"I know there is no reason for you to trust me," said Erwin. "But that can only come with time and practice. I have forced you into a situation where there is no room to run anymore, because I have a good feeling you will survive this. So work with me, and take vengeance for your friends. Give me the chance to show you what you can do because you have to. Their deaths will not be in vain because you can live on."


	8. Epilogue

He divided the rations between the two of them with a knife, cutting open a bit of meat, and then two slices of bread. A few days had passed since the last mission, and there had been a good amount of losses than whatever had been started with. Dreamers and people with big ideals were what he had learned of some of the people who wanted to change the state of humanity, but they were snippets, all gathered from when he walked past the bunks in other rooms. These people had a vision for a future, hope that they would see their families again, which left him feeling a bit disconnected.

Jake was lying on the bed this time, staring up at the ceiling in a somewhat relaxed manner.

"Where's the mail?" he asked him, as he set the two plates on the desk, and took a seat in one corner of it, as he picked up a piece of bread and started pulling one part of it off.

"It hasn't come today," he stated, and glanced to the side to look at the purple haired boy in front of the table. "But less important matters aside, how long do you think it will take?"

It was a subject matter that was now pretty big on both their minds tonight. Eishi had a feeling that Erwin knew it would once they saw what it was like outside.

Eishi remembered the feeling of so much land, and the vast emptiness, of the random bugs and flowers they had encountered, which even the best gardeners could not have shown them. And then he remembered the first look at what a real giant was. A huge face leering down at them with their mouths pulled back in a sharp grin. He'd had nightmares about it for a while, of what it would feel like to be eaten by one of those things.

"It could really happen any day now, couldn't it?" he responded.

They both knew now how foolish it was to think that it couldn't, having been surrounded by the walls for too long. Eishi felt that Jake's mood had been slowly changing since they'd last been around. Being exposed to the way hands would fall off from the lips which only marched on past, or even ran past, to excitedly pick up another of them, one by one..

It was even worse than the feeling of watching Soliel die. Now every alarm bell, every thought was simply of when they would come.

* * *

><p>He didn't think he would find Levi around, because the other had made himself pretty scarce around the area. He had also been sent on special missions, as the participants of these would come back looking more serious and gloomy every single time. Petra had been assigned to the missions as well, the bright aura around her seeming to grow lighter. Eishi did not know how she could handle being cheerful after seeing so many deaths, but sometimes, she even managed to cheer Levi up.<p>

"It's because she is motivated. She knows what needs to be done." Levi had been hiding out near the walls and the structure overlooking humanity's only defense: Wall Maria.

A plate of bread and a bit of meat was in front of him, but it was hardly touched, to which Eishi could actually sympathize. The last thing one wanted to do was eat when things became more serious. But he could sense that something else was probably missing, and there was only one reason Levi was found without them.

"I keep thinking back of how little I knew of all of this," he started. It was a big knock to any self-esteem when he realized that just yesterday, he could have seen them both around.

A raise of Levi's hand signalled that he should stop talking, and he realized that he had already trailed off anyway, a hitch in his voice.

A tear escaped, and ran down his cheek, and by then he had looked away, staring out into the horizon, wondering what was best and who he felt sorry for the most.

Footsteps approached them and he jumped, standing up so quickly that he lost his balance. He threw out a hand and braced himself right near the edge of the wall. After opening his eyes which he had shut, he realized that Levi had stood up at some point, and he was promptly dragged back to his feet.

"Bastard, don't sneak up on me like that!" He started to say before his gaze fell on Jake, who was dressed once again in noble clothes.

"We're going back," he said, in an authoritative manner, a tone that he seemed to have adopted all over again.

"Going back?" He was dumbstruck for the moment, only able to hear the direction. "Like hell we are." He knew that Jake probably had the power to bring them back to the house they lived in at this very moment based on the expression upon their face, and that's what irked him the most.

"Do you have any idea just what happens out there everyday? How can you just say that we go back after knowing what will happen to all of us?"

Before Jake could answer, Levi had stepped forward, but only to state the obvious. "I think you should tell us why, first of all."

Jake glanced left and right between the two of them, but sighed out when neither of them would relent and pulled out the letter that had just arrived, bearing an official royal seal.

"Father has come down with an illness," he said, his manner somewhat detached as if holding back whatever emotion that would come between the two of them. "If we don't hurry back, he will be dead in a few days."

* * *

><p><em>Although being a noble comes with a lot of power, they also bear a hell lot of responsibilities. We returned to find that everything seemed to be the way it was when we last left it. Things went on as normal, and slowly we took up our responsibilities as we did before. But a few things changed, because Jake was now pretty determined to take father's place as the head of the household, and all the duties that came with it, such as managing the business, and then essentially having the same standing. Due to our age, however, our uncle would be taking care of things for the moment. With this in mind, I started going back to school, to study how to become a doctor.<em>

* * *

><p>He stood in front of the window, and I took the time to approach him, because by now I had seen him pretty often. A lot of people thought that Corporal Levi was actually pretty cold, but I didn't think so. Sure, he was hard to get to know and had a brick wall around him when it came to getting any closer than that, but it wasn't like he wouldn't try to talk to you when the time came to do the right thing. That's what I felt was the most important.<p>

"There have been over several injuries in nearly all of the patients, and some of them are pretty serious. Don't tell me you guys are losing your touch! Not to mention, the death toll that came in from the mortuary department."

Levi gave me a somewhat deadpan expression. "Should you really be talking like that when there's all these patients in a room nearby?"

I found myself chuckling at the look on his face. He was pretty strict now, and one could even say that his motivation had done a 180 degrees change since the early days of when he started out at the recon corps.

"But there's also something or rather - someone that I wanted to ask you about, personally," I started.

"Get straight to the point. You don't have a very long break."

"The reason for all these accidents, is it really true there's a titan shifter out there?" It had been on my mind for a while. The discovery was pretty amazing but it also reaffirmed a few things that I had kept to myself. "To think that humanity would finally get a bit of help!" It was amazing, even though the silence that stretched over us after that sentence was awkward as usual, courtesy of yours truly. But when did anything like this ever happen in the history of this world? It seemed to make my adventure feel very small and shallow all of a sudden.

"Eren Yeager," Levi started out listing the qualities in the boy and I couldn't help but lean closer, cupping a hand to my ear theatrically in order to take in the details. "Thick-headed. Arrogant. Naiive, and overall a pain in the ass. But he's got some potential."

If the world had just been a cartoon I would have face planted into the floor at that moment.

"Some things never change about kids these days, huh?" I asked, and placed a hand to my forehead. "But do you really think he can save the world?"

Levi didn't ever answer that question, but I knew that it was a pretty good sign when he didn't say anything bad about this kid. Already, during that day, I came to the conclusion that for sure, something that could change the course of history and the way humans understood titans had come to pass.

It was Eren Yeager. Humanity's last hope.

**The End**


	9. Understanding Eren

_I had watched the first titan battle ever in one of the towns. It was a gigantic female titan versus Eren Yeager, the kid with more expectations on him than the entirety of humanity put together. I wondered that night if he understood the weight of the situation, when watching the way the deformed body fought, so free of worries. It brought back memories of Soliel, and what once was a tragedy that I could not bring myself to talk about, came just a little hope. It is true that titans are known for their sadism and their complete lack of restraint and cruelty. I've worked as a nurse to know all the damage that can be done, and then as a doctor, to witness the irrepairable destruction of a person missing their head while a family cried in the background. But Eren wasn't like the rest of them, he wasn't even like us._

It had been a night full of restlessness when it came to one particular doctor. After seeing all the broken glass and houses that might have been stepped on, he had returned home, only to have nightmares about the past, where thin stretched out smiles and large teeth encircled his body as a big hand brutally snapped his form in half. When he had awoken, it was in a sheen of sweat, and he'd decided just then to visit the hospital. Still shaky, he reached for the phone beside his bed and dialed the number of a contact who had just seen Eren right when he'd been checked in, and a familiar voice picked up the receiver on the other end.

"I didn't think you would call us so soon, Eishi," Sai said on the other end. "You're always overworking yourself. It's a surprise you haven't matured since then."

Eishi gave a light scoff, but it was clear at least to them that it was more playful than anything. "How is he doing?" He asked the more experienced doctor.

"It went from damaged to almost good as new in one night. I think it'd be a shame if you didn't see this for yourself."

The other then hung up abruptly, leaving the man to sigh and shake his head. As usual, they were at least two steps ahead of him when it came to reading his intentions and never seemed to hold back in giving their own opinions on the matter.

* * *

><p>When he arrived to the room that Eren had been kept in, there was hardly anyone there. It was past midnight, and the people who had been watching the rooms and guarding it were almost half asleep. There was the usual nightshift staff, who went in to check on the patients and their condition so he got past with a simple nod of his head. It would be different than it was in the morning, in a way, where the walls were lit with sunshine and gave a cheery feel to the entire atmosphere of the rooms, and the clinical air in which doctors behaved around the patients were clearly missing as most of them wanted good rest for the injured. Even a hospital could be bustling with some kind of life at one point, and it had been reassuring enough.<p>

But he was anxious and it seemed to escape the back of his mind on why, a mixed feeling of knotted up tension wiggling like butterflies in his stomach as he tried to imagine what the titan shifter could have been doing._ 'Calm down,'_ he told himself lightly. _'It's not like the fate of the world rests upon my shoulders.'_ He had been calm and collected, giving the guys at the door a smile, but as soon as he shut it behind him, he jerked towards the person in the room with a narrowed gaze. To his relief, they were simply resting. There was no imposing figure, reading a book of mathematics, or a strategist, playing a lone game of chest. Their outlook was simply normal, completely unconscious and fitting to the image of the excited kid when he'd been announced to the world as humanity's last hope.

He watched the boy sleeping on the bed and had honestly imagined them in a worse state. There had been rumors that his shell of a titan body had disappeared and dissipated into smoke, and it seemed to be true. This left him wondering if there was any connection then to the state of the other's body towards the boy, in that some of his own flesh disappeared as well during each transformation in which he'd even tried to doodle out the depicted outcome to his co-workers.

Instead, they looked peaceful, as if they'd never looked a monster straight on. In fact, he was worried for a moment that they were not breathing, despite the way their eyes rolled around beneath their eyelids. Still, normal in health otherwise. Why they were sleeping in the hospital, of all places, was not very clear, but he supposed that it was good for procedure since they had been in a battle with another titan. He had been out of it for at least two days by now, Eishi noted, as he picked up a chart nearby and checked some of the notes that the other staff members had made.

"And there it is," he said to himself as his vision once again strayed on the sleeping form. "My meeting with Eren. It was nice to meet you, even in this state. I want you to know that your dad is probably very proud of you."

Of course, he had no clue that was the wrong thing to say. The moment that he said it, the sleeping person's frame seemed to twist and turn in the bed. There was a pause and his expression rounded out with alarm, as he stared at Eren who was now mumbling words in his sleep with tears trailing down from his gaze. He cautiously moved closer, attempting to pull the covers back over his form, but oddly curious to listen to what the other was saying, leaning in with his ears facing the other, and an expression of confusion on his face. There was ragged panting, as it seemed that Eren was finally reacting in an odd sort of sleep talking. Upon closer examination, they were pale and clammy, as their eyelashes flickered slightly and as their throat trembled with pain.

"Dad... I'm sorry..." Eren managed out. "I didn't mean to..." As if on cue when Eren felt the movement of a person nearby, Eishi's wrist was snatched, and tugging gently in every way possible to dislodge the grip seemed impossible. "Don't leave.. not like this...damnit.."

Guilt tugged over him at what he had just said. It had been rash to assume that the boy had a happy father. Sure, there were rumors to the other's past, and he like many others had come up with theories on what had actually happened, along with the common knowledge that his dad seemed to have been responsible for Eren's transformation. But how was he to know that there was a graver significance to it? To say that he was surprised was an understatement, but he snapped back to his senses when more of the nightmare seemed to surface inside the other and reached forward in an attempt to shake the other awake. "Hey kid, snap out of it," he started in as firm as a tone he could muster, but more of the teary-eyed murmurs stopped him, sending a sympathetic note to sound in his conscience. They never once opened their eyes, and the moment itself was striking some nerves inside him, to the point that he was beginning to feel the suffering that the other was going through. After all, what kind of kid would reach out to him like that? Their father, to be more precise, was shrouded in more mystery than Eren himself.

"It's going to be okay," he said to the other finally, and awkwardly as if he were sounding out a strange script that had just been handed to him.

He didn't think it would work, and resolved for a moment that he would stay next to the other all night if he had to. He probably wasn't the only one who had done so either, if others ended up speaking to Eren when he was asleep. He waited for a moment and he felt the hand on his arm relax, and let out a sigh of relief. He ended up pulling the covers back over their form, and heading out of the room, but glancing backwards all the while in which he did so. He felt that if he didn't, then the image of that fragile little kid would have slipped away, along with this new sort of understanding that had shown up in just a span of a few seconds.

That night, he arrived back home and collapsed into bed in a blissfully dreamless state, every now and then, a flashing picture of smiling green eyes drifting in the back of his mind.


	10. Trigger Lock

It had been months since he had heard from the other, but that was to be expected. Eishi had to admit to himself that it was unfortunate since Levi had been the sole source of entertainment for him, returning with stories and details of what had happened from the war on the titans. Shortly after Eren's fight with the female titan, the details had slowly emerged from the rumors that the newspapers spread, heavily convoluted but cleared up in a few short sentences. It would seem like yesterday since the man had been around, drinking from his tea and mostly observing, making a few comments here and there that made people passing by feel smaller. He did not seem to like any open attention, and that was fine with the purple haired medic. What he enjoyed had been his attempts to pry the truth out of the other, going so far as to explain what others thought in a tale that seemed ridiculous to anyone, as well as the scent of whatever flavor of tea seemed to have fallen into Levi's hands.

So he ended up toiling the days away, working harder than usual with a consistency that even surprised Sai, his delicate mentor. Days passed and swiftly turned into months. He had been playing nurse and doctor for the staff members who always seemed undersourced for the amount of patients that they saw.

Work was cheerful as ever, and busy with sounds of sick children crying and others just speaking down in one hall, and the soft rotation of the wheels on wheelchairs, perhaps inaudible when a family member volunteered to steer their relative from behind. Though most would see the atmosphere as some sort of funeral march, the former soldier was comforted in a way by the progress of people who strived to stand, unknowingly in the face of the areas outside the wall. The chaos of people who dared to go out with their heads rolling and missing, being a rarity as titans were more likely to consume the upper half whole while the person was still alive.

Then of course the first hint of news spread as quickly as wildfire. Levi had been injured in a battle. It was nothing new and not much word had been sent to the public, but the top officials at the hospital had been quite smug about the issue, seeming to point out that even a hero had to take a break sometime. That was of course, about all that was mentioned as even they didn't know the entire story. He had his own suspicions, mostly that after the fight with the female titan that seemed so long ago, something had caused his injuries to act up.

When Levi finally arrived, he walked straight to his room, accompanied by some nurses who tried to insist that he use a wheelchair, and slammed the door to a group of stunned doctors who had crowded by hesitantly to catch sight of him.

"S..so, that is Levi.." a newer doctor said, seeming very startled. Eishi, who had been in the group nodded.

"Yeah, that's Levi."

"...He's really injured?"

To that, Eishi didn't have a response to.

* * *

><p>"For someone with these complications, you really shouldn't be up and walking so well." A senior doctor with graying strands and tired eyes tried to explain.<p>

It was then when he had entered the room, carrying a bunch of cleaning supplies. Unlike the rest of the staff, Eishi seemed to come overly prepared, and no one was even surprised when he started dusting the vase of flowers with a duster. It didn't take long for the doctor to give Eishi a nod and then stride out, after giving a terse explanation of the injuries and the areas he should focus on healing from. Around that time, he worked on cleaning the windows, using a towel to wipe away at the pane of glass, after spraying a liquid solution upon it. The scent of Sakura blossoms, artificially filled the air for a moment, before what looked like the second time of himself wiping an already clean area.

"The windows are the worst part," he said to his stern-eyed companion, who was now reaching over to read the newspaper. "It's usually shiny so people tend to overlook it sometimes. Then the next thing you know, all sorts of dust get caught up in it."

"You know, you don't have to try so hard to catch my attention," came a somewhat sarcastic sounding reply.

He paused, while trying to figure out how to hook up one of those new steam vacuums that some of the cleaners were so proud of, and feigned a bit of surprise, before saying. "But I'm serious. If you run your finger over the windowsill, there's always dust there. And this thing – " He paused, and tapped the handle of the new vacuum steam cleaner, which surprisingly started in a soft little vibrating hum, and he started to clean the floors. He didn't have to look up to sense the roll of a pair of eyes being pointed up in a bit of exasperation towards the ceiling, likely for a brief moment before they scanned over the newspapers once more.

It was surprising, after all, that Levi hadn't kicked him out, like the first few times when Eishi walked in on a moment where he was having a private conversation with Erwin. Just one narrow of those eyes, and a smile from Erwin had caused him to politely duck out, stuttering like some steam puffing teakettle. It had never ceased to amaze him since the man's first speech, and Eishi found that while he was most easygoing around brash personalities like Levi's, it was kind of different and awkward around a man who seemed to read every intention of others in the blink of an eye.

It took a few minutes longer than necessary to figure out how to turn off the instrument, and Eishi was about to throw up his hands and give up when Levi got up from the bed and turned it off for him. "A series of taps," he stated in response to the questioning look that the head taller person gave him. He didn't bother to explain, but Eishi had known him long enough that he could guess that he had probably purchased the same type of machine when it first came out.

The moment, Eishi felt, was just a little closer to that point where they seemed to share a knowing look, before the other's gaze suddenly hardened. Before he knew it, the vacuum was shoved roughly aside and there was hardly a warning before his head hit the floor and he was tackled to the ground. Luckily, his arms braced out to the floor so that the impact didn't land fully on his head.

"Close your eyes!" came a voice from the distance while the shock dulled his senses and he did so, for it was the most serious sounding that he had heard from the other before.

The shattering of glass was the only indication, other than the sound of a gunshot. Broken pieces of shards rained around them, in which the other was likely cut in the process. All throughout this, his heart was pounding quickly and then the sound of an arrow slamming into the wall was made known, shot in a way that caused it to stick into the wall, as if the person who had done so had another target in mind.

When he opened his eyes, and stared at it, Levi had already made his way over to the note, and had pulled it down from where the arrow had pierced it.

Of course, thought Eishi to himself. It was too soon for things to return to peace after all. Simply written in blood on the paper, was the message:

_**Where is she?**_

It was a message written over a drawing of Audrey that Eishi had sketched long ago.

* * *

><p>Audrey grew up alongside Eishi. She was allowed liberties that many other girls her age were not privy to. Her father, a quiet little noble had taken to their stubborn mother, who was born outside of noble lineage. Because Eishi was an orphan, they had somehow found some similarities to eachother and his own personality seemed to attract her quiet, thoughtful nature. He was the loud, and spirited one, like her mother was to her father, and so she quickly became protective of him at times.<p>

Her passion, aside from drawing, happened to be uncovering mysteries. She read a lot of fiction novels in this field, and one day stumbled on a secret...

Around 10 years ago, she had followed her father out on a trip which he had been very secretive about. She found him standing in the alleyway with a mysterious man who would later be known as Charlen.

"I gave you the data.. all that I've had," said Edward, pushing back his round glasses nervously. "All that I asked was that you keep my family out of this."

Charlen simply paused, blonde haired and blue eyes, looking a lot less sinister than he would someday, and simply smirked. "You knew the rules when you joined," he stated softly. "We made a deal that no one would be spared. Your daughter.. in particular. She has the chance to become someone of great deal to our cause. Surely, you didn't think we'd simply just thrust this project onto someone who was less significant than to the very man who added to this very technology?"

Edward narrowed his eyes and clenched one fist lightly at his side. "You're asking her to do something that will completely isolate her from all humanity. Do you have any idea of the type of curse this sort of thing is to bestow upon others?"

Charlen paused, and then simply laughed, beginning to circle the man after raising a finger to prod at his shoulder. "Ah yes, you the father are suddenly having second thoughts. I believe I remember I told you to read the fine print, of course, but you eagerly made a contract of sorts with me without hesitation for the resources that I could give. My very own son, as well, the first of our family died for that cause, and yet you – think that your daughter is above all of this? What kind of man are you, Edward.. Would you truly stand for your own blood over knowledge? There is still so much you could learn, and yet you're throwing all of this away."

"Knowledge is nothing if it does not benefit anyone," said Edward numbly, but a look of indecision crossed his face. "Leave me and my family out of this, I've left everything with you."

"Oh, but it's too late," said Charlen suddenly and he waved a hand over to gesture to the daughter who was hiding behind the corner of the alleyway. "Have you lost your senses in that you didn't notice that girl spying on us this whole time? Perhaps you should let her decide her fate, dearest father. Come now, do you not want to benefit your father's cause, and perhaps spare his life?"

Edward paused and turned considerably more pale. His eyes narrowed as Audrey stepped out the corner of the alleyway, and made her way down the pebbly steps to stop before them.

She paused, looking ever so small against the alleyways, and finally sighed.

"No," she said simply.

Charlen returned the answer with a smile. "Then so be it."

A gun was drawn that night, but instead of being pointed at her father, it was pointed towards her instead, but Edward quickly stepped in the way before it could be fired.

"Enough, Charlen!" he cried out. "You've scared her enough, already, so let it go."

Of course, it was common knowledge that a missing head of the family was more noticeable than a missing child. Both of them knew that Charlen could not kill Edward for this sole very reason, at least, not without the agreement of the other nobles, and then they'd have to vote for approval on such a matter, something that the weary father was willing to risk for his daughter.

There was a long, drawn out silence, and then the gun was withdrawn. Charlen shot Audrey a leering look and then started to march away, but in a slow, leisurely manner that looked as if he was making fun of a soldier on purpose.

"This is not the end of what you'll hear from me ..Edward," said Charlen. "Pretty soon, I swear on it. People might forget that you even existed."


	11. Wanted Sign

When the news arrived at his desk, it was not on a big surface in a single office where he was stuck signing papers all day. He supposed that he would be the next one to find out the sordid details of the situation. Eishi's shaky handwriting left Jake with a dull feeling, as if he was certain that he would receive such news. When that settled, there was a burning little anger that coursed through him. He excused himself from the classroom, as his unpleasant look startled a few girls down the rows, and the person who had handed him the letter, signed and stamped with the family seal, hidden in an envelope and hastily taped together.

As he left the room, the teacher's voice echoed down the hallway, a simple lecture that was on literature, given in a manner of a documentary, in which no classroom response was needed. However, it only made it easier for the full lipped noble with an unusually intense gaze to drift off into the current situation.

He finally reached a phone in what seemed like a private office, a room for students to make calls to their families and plan for the holidays. There was usually a line for it too, to which there would be idle chatter while waiting as the polished tiles of the floors glistened upon the sunlight. This, however, was not the occasion to admire the well kept atmosphere. His brother had been attacked, and now it was time to make a phonecall. The ringing happened for a while, and the secretary picked up from the other line to answer. "Hello, I'm sorry – but he is a very busy person. Can you leave him a message and I will write it down immediately?"

"It's me," stated Jake into the call. The tone of the atmosphere immediately changed, and the voice at the end sounded even more pleasant than it had before.

"Oh, of course. I'll transfer you to him right away!" She said and the hasty sound of fumbling was heard before the line was switched.

"A pleasure to hear from you, Jake," he said. "I don't receive your calls very often. This must be about something important."

"I know you're a very busy person," he stated dryly.

"Only when it doesn't come to family matters of course." An awkward pause ensued. "So, what can I do for you?"

"I need you to assign me a professional bodyguard. An attack happened at the hospital."

"That must be very hard on you to hear, I know you care a lot about him. How is my adorable nephew doing anyway? I've been so busy that work has kept me from finding out sooner."

"Better late than never. Anyway, that's my only request for now, that, and of course the customary reminder that you can't send me an idiot this time."

"Of course not, and I look forward to seeing you alive at the holidays."

"Now you're making me nervous," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Don't be. I know I don't say this very often, but since someone is targeting you, I will tell you a story of your mother and what she said she'll do to me if I get one of her sons killed -"

"She'll gouge out your eyes with spoons and then feed your dead body to the dogs, after you commit suicide."

"Well, I can see that you're short on time already, so I'll leave you to your day."

Jake hung up the phone, around the same time that his uncle did and raised a hand to rub at the temples of his forehead, and then he looked down at the letter that Eishi had written. It was shorter than usual, and the contents had been rushed, showing the stress of the situation, but he folded it carefully back up and slipped it into his pocket. As for the envelope, he crumbled it upon his fingers and tossed it into the trash, before swiftly returning to class.

* * *

><p>It was the sound of the rain falling against the windowpane, droplets splattering and rippling against the backdrop of one long note, being strung up against a violin. The lingering silence was carefully etched into the moment before the full force of the strings swerved as the hand that played seemed to sway once, turning and raising the instrument before him as if the very movement was well practiced for a recital of sorts. Even as Hale scanned the musical notes, his body seemed to be at motion in precise moments, as if the very sound in itself had his mind in a trance.<p>

His practice room was bare, allowing the sound to echo and vibrate across the atmosphere, leaving him free to dance around if he had wanted to. Of course, he didn't do so, as his eyes had to focus on that one piece that someone had just composed. He was a quick player, able to read ahead and then naturally, his fingers seemed to know where to go, but the sounds that he got inspired by had taken his mind to another place at the same time. He thought about walking upon the snow, with bright eyes and his hand in his father's hand, the first moment he discovered tea, and standing on a bridge, staring into the shiny reflection of the trees that lined a lake.

The tune became more of a whisper just then, and there was a soft moment of plucking at the strings as indicated, and then the wail that only a violin had seemed to strike, sending shivers into the bow and the entire song. A shadow of sorts loomed over them. He had looked upon the eyes of a grotesque figure with a face, and then a sad smile as his gaze quickly darted over to his father. It was of course, the last time he had seen them, right before he was found by some survey corps members, a person who had rushed out to stop him, and had only managed to save the kid.

They had covered his eyes, but he turned away and saw it anyway, and then a long time later, he had found out that they had not managed to get too far away from the walls.

Just as the song seemed to become at it's wildest, the melody soaring it into the skies, and notes being struck out left and right, the phone rang.

He set down the violin with a gasp and opened his eyes finally, before making a soft sound of annoyance. "Tch.."

He set down his instrument on a simple chair nearby, that he had hardly had to use until now and rushed over to pick up and answer.

"This is Hale speaking," he greeted in a standard, serious sounding tone.

"Hale, eh? You don't sound very scary. Is that your real name? But if it is, that would be a relief. For a moment, I thought you were going to be some huge muscle brained man who - "

"Get to the point," he interrupted with a sigh.

"Oh yeah, right. As I was saying. My name is Eishi and I'm very excited to meet you! I don't think they got the word out to your boss fast enough at your station, but in all honesty we're looking for someone who can help us keep a low profile. It really wasn't a good idea with the last guy they sent us – " There was a voice in the background as something was said, but just out of hearing range. "Wait a minute Levi, you're not supposed to get up from bed – Geez, he never listens. Anyway, I'll be over in say, around 30 minutes of travel, so see you there!"

The phone was hung up in a split second, and Hale was faced with a dial tone.

"..."

* * *

><p>"You know, I thought it was my job to show up, not the other way around," he said, now dressed in what looked like a uniform. "And- what is the meaning of this?!"<p>

Eishi looked over at the other and couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Well, I was right. Your legs look positively natural in those stockings..." He raised his hand in the air, and made a flattering gesture with his hand, doing his best to appear honest. He couldn't believe his luck in that he had somehow gotten the other to agree to the uniform, and it had taken a fair amount of effort to do so too. He first attempted to explain that it was his Uncle's orders, that the other attempts to fit in with the school, and of course, that failed. He loved his silly uncle just like any other good nephew, but even he knew that the man wasn't scary enough to intimidate anyone.

Then he tried to bribe the other, before finally the magic words of getting his boss to dock his pay worked. Of course, Hale had no idea that instead of the usual military police outfit, it came with some high stockings, a skirt, and girly mary jane styled shoes. It didn't help that long strands of gray hair and his albino appearance left him fitting the role perfectly, as if he was already doused in a natural makeup of sorts. His loose, flowing ponytail didn't really help his cause either.

Hale practically glowered at him, and walked up to pick him up by the collar with a simple glare, eyes seeming particularly narrowed even through thin rimmed glasses. "I will go along with this, but if anyone finds out that this is me – I'll drop this job so fast and then toss you into the lake naked, in the middle of Winter."

That was enough to make the smile drop off his face, and he may have complained, but one glance into the other's eyes and he realized that they were serious.

"L.. let me open the door for you, Miss.."

His efforts were rewarded with another glare as Hale reached over and practically dragged the door open for them with a loud slam. Clearly, he seemed to have a temper on this occasion, leaving the jokester of the two with another smile, following after the other and shutting the door behind them.

* * *

><p>Hale sat in the passenger seat of the horse drawn carriage with an awkward pose as he'd never been so conscious of sitting in a skirt before. It had been waiting outside for them, having been the same carriage that had brought Eishi over to the practice room that his parents had rented for him. The boyish man beside him had left a book in the same carriage, one that he was now reading and flipping over the pages to. It kept him silent, so Hale was pleased enough at that, enough to start thinking of his tactics for the job that he had been given. After sifting through mentally the information that Eishi had given him, he realized that there was a point to going around in a skirt. It would make him less likely to be suspected as a guard, and probably give more reason for a sudden stranger to be hanging around two rich brats.<p>

After a while, the flickering noise of turning pages died down, and he noted that the other was watching him, in a silent moment between the two of them. It was probably a rare moment for them not to say anything first, so he decided to bring up his concerns.

"If my co-workers find out about this, I'll be a laughing stock," he started quietly. "Do you have any idea of my reputation?"

"Sure I do," the other said in response, surprising him by then continuing. "I have to know something about the person I'm entrusting my safety to. You graduated as one of the top students and you're always really serious. People say you often look as if something is troubling you." Eishi closed the book and then added. "I'm kind of surprised that you took the path of the Military Police, actually," he stated. "I know some people you would have fit in with."

Hale was about to respond when a glaring picture on the book caught his attention. It was like a nightmare, as the painted face seemed to loom out from the cover of the book, but what was startling was the grotesque face being the same one that he had encountered over and over again in his dreams, a sort of apparition that caused him to wake up screaming as some of his comrades would gladly inform him. He turned away and faced the window, turning a faint shade of green, and covered his mouth, shaking and trembling a bit, to the point that the louder of the two's words had no longer reached him. When the other placed a hand on his shoulder, he hissed, an animalistic noise and one hand reached out to roughly shove them away.

Eishi paused, as he was pinned back into the window opening of the carriage all of a sudden, with one hand over his neck. Hale of course, just reached for the book, and then drew back. Without another word, he opened the latch of the door and flung the book out of the carriage, before shutting it promptly once more. It was then that he became himself again, and he sat back in his seat, letting the sound of the rolling wheels along the carriage drift over them.

He expected the other to laugh at him, frankly. Here he was on a mission to guard against some unknown human's attacks and he couldn't even stomach a titan, but instead, what happened turned out much more different. Eishi reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder once more, and Hale began to feel bad about the markings that he left on the other's neck, where his nails had sank into the skin, but he wouldn't meet their gaze.

"All right, I get it now. Looks like you get to protect me from humans, and I'll take down the next titan for you."


	12. Rivals in the Dark

When they arrived to the school, the carriage driver opened the door for them, unveiling a mansion sized building with typical windows. It looked like an ordinary rich person's house, with courtyards and a fountain. Hale was the first to step out, taking the lead even though Eishi made an effort to help him out. Ignoring the proffered arm, and the somewhat disappointed look on the other's face, he started for the gate, and reached into his pocket for his I.D., before of course, realizing that he didn't have it on his person since he had changed attire and had been a bit upset with his 'uniform'. It was still very uncomfortable for him, noticing the gaze of a few male students nearby, shining with interested gleams in his direction and the exact reaction that left him with a feeling of dread. He wouldn't admit it, but he had been expecting something like that to happen, and felt bad for the guys, for behind those pale features and dollish looks, was a temperamental monster.

Eishi approached the guards first, pulling out his I.D., and another one that he had specifically made in Hale's image. He was not surprised, as it would have drawn more attention from the guards if they had not made a fake identity for him. Hale had to notice in that they were at least consistent with keeping up the guise, and began to think that the other had anticipated and planned things out accordingly, or that at least someone else had. Like most people, he had never met Eishi's uncle, who was a politician in his early forties, and was obscure. He was not an extraordinary governor, always staying in the background when the nobles made big decisions during the collapse of Wall Maria, voting in line with the majority to send the vast amount of refugees from Shiganshina back out in order to be consumed by titans. Of course, Hale and everyone who knew what happened with titans were aware of the true nature of their corrupt government.

So this lead Hale to assume that it ultimately had to be the decision of the unusually cheerful person next to him, and whatever that could mean for his own fate was something that he did not want to think about when eyeing the guards who were admitting them entrance into a prestigious institution.

"It looks like the list is in order," said one of the guards, a tall gentleman with black hair. "Didn't expect you to arrive so soon, sir. You should really visit us more often. I think you've grown taller since the last time I've seen you. I guess being a doctor isn't bad for some of us." He shot a polite gaze over to Hale, before gesturing that the two pass over the gate, which he prepared to open for them, drawing back the handle of a lock, and pulling open the thin metal doors with an audible screetch.

Eishi responded without missing a beat. "Me? Don't you remember the last thing that happened when I dropped by? I don't think I've seen my brother's cat fall so far from a window before. It's like I'm a beam that attracts trouble and besides, he's got an important future ahead of him. I don't want to get in the way of that."

"No kidding. I heard of what happened at the hospital," responded the guard.

Eishi chatted with the guard for a few more minutes, before Hale started to walk off and stare at the structure of the school. It was a lot like the building for the Military Police, so he was used to walking around fancy structures, but the way that the people were treated inside was likely different. They weren't common soldiers from all walks of life. Their future was either of a medical profession or a seat in the higher places of society, or they simply had good fortune or skill. Hale had once heard of a famous musician who had attended the school, who was also a genius at math, but stories like those were few and far between. One had to entertain the rich class and possess considerable skill to attend. A person who wanted to attend needed motivation, and a lack of any considerable weakness that would cause the school shame.

"Pretty nice looking spot, isn't it?" said Eishi from beside him, as if he could read his mind. "It sure beats other places, that's for sure," he added in a slightly more wistful tone.

Hale raised an eyebrow. "What places have you been to?" he asked, stressing the word 'you' in particular. Either way that he looked at it, there weren't many buildings that were displeasing inside the walls that he could picture a noble kid to have seen. It had not occurred to him that the other would have been beyond the walls even.

A cheshire grin was shot in his direction.

"You'd be surprised," Eishi stated but didn't answer, and instead made his way to the school entrance, where the double doors were easily pushed open, designed to be more accessible as the gate outside was the only defense against intruders.

* * *

><p>There were no hugs given to his brother when they finally met face to face again. Jake really wasn't the type for close intimate touches towards family members. Eishi's relationship towards him was oddly cool at best, as he'd learned a long time ago that the man did not want to present a soft and welcoming image to everyone around him. In fact, he was quite the opposite, bullying classmates whenever he wanted, and causing fear for the sake of those who he wished to protect. He didn't really agree to Jake's method of aggressively tossing others against the floor if his temper had been struck, but he also knew his place as the adopted sibling. It was part of a realization during when he grew up, that he was not like the rest. His own bloodline was plain and he was carefully picked as a member of the family due to his looks and good luck.<p>

At the same time, he noticed that Jake didn't seem to do cruel things for no reason, and perhaps that's what lead to many thinking him indifferent when it came to such things as love letters or professions of crushes from girls (boys were already too afraid of him). It was a bit as if he liked to plan things out, and give meaning and thought to his ideas before he put it to action, and that alone had to make Eishi wonder if the other's killing spree that one night in which he heard of also had some meaning to it. It was probably pretty obvious, when he mulled over the possibilities that Jake had killed in self-defense, and that the others had initiated the attack first. It had been around ten years since that fateful day of course when he'd first followed his brother deep into the slums and he'd never found the right moment to ask him about it. For all the other knew, even as he faced them with Hale in tow in a meeting room that looked like an office, the discussion would never happen between them.

"I hope the accommodations I set up were none too bothersome," he stated, glancing out the window and pulling shut the curtains of the office they were in, as if checking that the carriage that had brought them here had also left.

Hale stood beside Eishi, having remained standing on his feet and looking rather tense. Eishi thought that it must be sort of nerve-wracking and felt a shred of pity for him.

"It's fine," said the doctor of the three. It was actually pretty hard to picture Eishi as a doctor of sorts, due to the way he acted, and sometimes he would catch a glimpse of Jake looking at him out of the corner of his eye, as if he saw someone else instead.

"I guess you're wondering why I asked you to meet with me in this room," he said. "I just thought I'd go over the situation as of now."

It was this time that Eishi started to approach, walking forward and placing his hand on the desk. "Audrey," he stated with his brows furrowed a bit. "Is she all right?"

The girl had broken off all contact with them exactly nine years ago. Her letters stopped showing up and it was as if she was as good as dead. Eishi had not heard a word of her body being found, and it seemed that everyone he asked had forgotten of her memory. Her father, and her mother had also disappeared, and while Eishi was sure that they were dead, the memory itself of how had been muddled.

Jake would stare at the other for a long moment, and it seemed as if he was gathering the right words to tell them the situation. What came out of his explanation next, revealed that the situation was not so easily understood.

"Yes, and no," he said quietly. "To understand how it is that she died, you'd have to understand what death means to you."

Of course, that drew a very obvious question, but Eishi was all ears. "I'm listening..."

Jake reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a letter, and the contents of it was written in lengthy writing, spanning a few pages, which he set on the table to show the seal of Audrey's family. It was a circular red stamp with a robin sitting inside the circle, a simple little mark that only he and Jake would recognize.

"Her father sent me a detailed explanation of what he did," he said. "I will explain it plainly in a way that it is best understood: He removed her mind from her body, and transferred her essence into a device. He told me that he cannot be sure if she is still alive, but … that the research he had done in creating titans had lead him to figure out a way to completely extract a human from their titan body and thus, preserve their mentality. What he did exactly is difficult to understand, but if what is left of her is truly safe, then that would be a good guess as to why Charlen wants it destroyed."

Hale was the first to interject, looking a bit incredulous. "Why has this technology not been shared with the rest of humanity?" He asked.

There was a lengthy silence, before Jake explained further. "From what Audrey's father mentioned," he said. "He was unable to present the data to the rest of the nobles, and in order to protect his daughter, he committed suicide himself. However, he also gave Charlen the data of how to transfer humans before he had done so- and that man himself seems to be missing. I checked in the records and even that has been completely destroyed. It seems like he doesn't want a trace of evidence in correspondence to what he is capable of."

"So," started the albino male with sharp bangs and an unusually narrow posture. "Great, it seems like I'm defending you guys against some invisible monster that I don't even remember."

Eishi grinned lightly. "At least it's not a titan."

* * *

><p>"Where are you going?" Hale asked. They were all pondering still in the office that Jake had seemed to have borrowed for them from the faculty, and the situation itself was actually pretty glum, as far as the serious minded person was concerned.<p>

"I need some time to think, so I'm going to take a short walk," Eishi said, raising his arms in a carefree manner and stretching.

"What do you mean, think – " started Hale, but Jake raised a hand to indicate for some silence. Hale noticed the gesture, and realized that he was being a bit overprotective. "Come back as soon as you can," he stated seriously. "I'm supposed to escort you everywhere you go. If you aren't back in 5 or 10 minutes tops, I'll have to scout for your location."

Eishi nodded, giving Jake what looked like a grateful smile, and shutting the door behind him. It was then that the man in a skirt had to face the future politician, and he did so with his usual silence and a cross of arms over his chest. Jake didn't, however, seem to be paying attention to other things and was giving him a once over. "I assume you're in a skirt because of him," he stated with a cough afterwards.

"I thought I was the only one who noticed, sir," he stated with a raise of an eyebrow. Even if Hale was dressed like a lady, and a student of the school, he would have to play mute or make his voice sound higher in order to truly play such a humiliating role.

They eyed each other for a moment, and seemed to size eachother up with their gaze, before Jake spoke up again. "I just want you to remember your place," he stated with a frown. "We are entrusting our lives to you because I've heard that you did your job well. That, however, does not mean you are allowed to raise your hand against him. Don't think I didn't notice the marks you left on his neck."

Hale's eyebrow lowered and he nodded with a slightly darker look. It was not really a secret that his trigger button happened to be titans, and it had been brought up in a way that he was extremely violent against. Again, that nagging guilt of having lost control on even one of his employers took over him for a moment. Jake probably noticed that look of hesitation, for he seemed satisfied by that alone. "..."

"If I see that something like that happens again, I will deal with you and you will not like whatever I come up with."

"Quite protective, aren't you?" He had to interject in between the other's lecture as his temple twitched a bit due to the arrogant nature of the other's smile. He suddenly realized that he wasn't really facing what he had hoped was an innocent political figure.

Jake, in response, had no answer to that, and simply turned away. "Remember." With that intense gaze of his, he picked up the candle he had lit upon the table and blew it out, leaving the both of them in darkness and with the curtains of the one window in that room still closed.

"You're not just going to be guarding him, but I as well. If anything, your superiors will hear of any transgressions between us."


	13. On the edge of Sanity

It only took two sets of hands to drag in a surprisingly huge set of suitcases. Hale didn't expect his charges to have such heavy things to carry around with them. Jake usually had his own private room, but for safety reasons, he was moving over to share the same room with the both of them. Eishi was in front, carrying his own suitcase and had been somewhat touchy over anyone else handling it. This made Hale study him oddly, for even when they had someone deliver the suitcase on short notice, the usually cheerful man seemed nervous, pacing the rooms every now and then and stealing a glance outside the windows. He'd returned to normal as soon as the packages had arrived, while Jake had some random faces stuffing things into the case, their demeanor oddly polite before they departed. Hale had to wonder if Jake had manservants that he could pull out of nowhere, but a hand was shoved at his back in a gesture that snapped him out of his musings.

"Don't stare," he said simply from behind, and Hale turned to glare back at him.

Before he could respond to the accusation that was falsely being made of him, Eishi would push his suitcase up against the wall and fumble into his pocket, the gentle looking male seeming to have trouble finding the right set. "Just a second guys," he said, leaving the albino with a moment's passing of which he could have retorted something smart to Jake.

Jake simply stepped past Hale, and held out his hand for the keys, to which Eishi handed them over with a somewhat defeated sigh. In one stroke, it seemed that the correct key was pushed into the lock hole, and the door opened with barely a sound. Everything was nice and quiet, as if made to reinforce the peace. Subtleties and the little things that rich noble brats would likely appreciate was put in place, as they were every bit of what their parents expected of them. Even while this was happening, there would be a group congregating outside the windows by the courtyard, having a picnic with school butlers unveiling expensive desserts and exotic light snacks.

Hale was quick to step into the room, dragging the suitcase past the entrance with a bit of pressure that pulled on his arms a bit more than he would have liked. It was not as if he hadn't been stuck guarding people of high class before, but it usually wasn't in an area which he would be faced with one luxurious scene after another, much less, a school.

In the room, Jake would leave his suit case hanging near the closet, and Eishi would be scrambling to pull out things, setting up the bed with his own sheets, thicker blankets with cartoon pictures over it. Hale was a bit surprised, when he reached over to help the other that the cartoon was simply a picture of a smiley face with a printed blurb upon it, saying: "Sharing is caring."

After they managed to set the sheets on the bed, spreading out the cloth with Hale keeping the end from falling on to the floors, and placed upon a pillow at the top of the bed, the real set-up seemed to begin. The second thing that came out of the suitcase was a painting set. There seemed to be an entire stand folded up inside, heavily used and worn with splotches of painting on the side. Eishi would place the stand near the window, where the sunlight seemed to stream through past thick velvet curtains. It took a while to set up the leggings, the parts having to be latched into place, and seemed structured to interact with each area magnetically while some parts were already bolted into place and just folded behind to make carrying it around more compact.

It was then time to pull out the clothing, once the art stand was set up, and the mini paint pallet had a stool to be placed upon. It was comfortably a messy way to leave it there. There had been previous attempts to wash it, but painting still clung to the insides, leaving stains to overlap over one another throughout the years. Once the continual set of school uniforms were neatly hung up in the closet of the room, it seemed that hanging up picture frames was the next task, or setting them up upon the desks. It occurred to Hale only then that the two nobles had only been required to bring the bare necessities of what they treasured the most, as it wasn't certain how long they would be staying in this room.

His gaze switched over to study Jake, who had picked a desk in the room and was testing the lock in the drawers, and then once having gotten the drawer to open, stuffing an innumerable amount of letters into it, along with some writing tools in the side compartment. He saw a small ink pot being set upon the table, and a custom quill with it's pen stand, gilded in gold and with the texture of what seemed like marble being the base for structure of the sharp ended pen.

"Done!" came an upbeat exclamation from the only smiling occupant in the room. Hale glanced over and saw that there were numerous pictures being set up, framed in silver. Most of them seemed to be old fashioned photographs, or hand painted by Eishi himself. They were pictures of the family of the nobles, the parents distinguished by their worn features and dignified outfits, and stern, sort of tough looks on their faces. The paintings, however, always seemed to be of three people, Eishi, Jake, and a girl that Hale identified as Audrey. It was set up on a long table, like some sort of display, and at the end, a thick book was set at the end, with a picture in front of it as well, but obvious pages inside.

"So when are classes starting?" He asked, trying not to look as if he was staring at the one particular frame of Audrey, who looked like a classic picture of a girl with silver hair and deep thinking brown irises. If Hale had not been so drawn to it, he might have been offended in that she looked a lot like his sibling might have.

Jake was the first to respond to the question, as both he and his brother already seemed situated in the room, Eishi trying to throw darts into a board that Jake had somehow set up while Hale had been distracted. Hale's own bed was near the doorway, right in the corner and positioned with barely nothing upon it, as he had requested that any belongings that he brought would distract him from the job. In all honesty, he was ashamed of his own common background and hadn't wanted to compare furniture.

"Ballroom dancing tomorrow," he said, with a smirk and tossed a glance at his brother, who turned a faint shade of red and looked away. The reason why this happened was made obvious when a knock in the doorway from a butler of the school echoed from outside.

"The requested purchase has arrived, sirs," said the person, and to Hale's utter horror, a pink suitcase was pushed into the room, with his name on a tag hanging from it.

He stepped forward and opened it, and boxes wrapped in velvet ribbons, and all sorts of girly items from diamond encrusted combs, and makeup was discovered. The worse part was that most of the boxes were filled with dresses, with ruffles, and some of them even sported what looked like a choking bodice corset. He sifted through all the objects, that were included, as well as intimate wear that actually looked around his size.

"I took the liberty of getting your measurements from your military records," Jake said in explanation. "But I couldn't figure out which dress you would like, so I bought as many as I could."

Only the sound of some stifled giggles from the middle of the room sounded, as Hale suddenly wished he could disappear into the floor.

* * *

><p>He had suffered worse things before than a simple corset, but he could not seem to look at himself in the mirror as a maid tried to pull the straps to the dress and shut it tight. She huffed, not seeming to realize that under the satin shirt of frills, that there was a man underneath, or perhaps she didn't care. The other two had promised utmost secrecy as long as he remained guarding them, and because of this, the servants that helped them were sworn to keep their silence. She paused, noting his gaze on her and for some reason, she felt compelled to ask.<p>

"I'm sorry, er.. Miss. Are these straps too tight?"

"No," he answered flatly, feeling his temples throb with a bit of a headache as his air was successfully constricted and the corset was locked into place, causing his frame to mimic just slightly, the belled, waif-like structure beneath the flowing long dress. "Can I be left in peace for the moment?"

She nodded and left, turning red as she remembered having been asked to teach him how to properly fit on all the parts of the garments beforehand, having used a series of charts and stick figure drawings to teach him how to hide his masculine features. Even Hale realized that it was sort of overkill, but he was somewhat thankful that they did not make him wear a padded bra, as it was really not the intention to draw attention to him.

When she closed the door, he took one look at himself in the mirror, blanched, and hid his face in the wall of the women's changing room, which was an area that girls primarily used in the mansion for privacy. A sense of mercy had been applied, of course as he had flat out refused to put on the makeup, but that victory was overshadowed by the fact that these dancing lessons were actually a regular part of the schedule in which their normal classes would also take place. It seemed that most of the people who attended the institution also had to learn how to behave in life as a part of nobility, and that included knowing how to throw parties. By now, Hale was unpleasantly aware of the fact that all the nobles did all day seemed to include, other than taking lessons, play games, party, or have picnics.

A knock on the door signaled, the sudden presence of a familiar voice, calling out behind the door. "Ready or not. I'm coming in!" he said. The door was opened, and Eishi did walk in, covering his eyes for a good few moments as he shut the door behind him.

It turned out that during the lessons, one of his obvious dance partners were even going to escort him to class, in a way that made him feel as if he was walking around in a girl's fantasy dream. He had to admit that if this were not the case, he may have felt bored at all of this, and would have had more than a few urges to sneak into a music room. However, that was only one good side that didn't seem to measure up to the constriction of the corset around his hips.

"You look..." Eishi had paused and was staring at him, seeming awestruck for the moment. Hale rolled his eyes, already aware that he looked more girly than he would ever have wanted to in his entire life, but something in their gaze caught his attention as the other suddenly seemed sad enough to turn away.

"Kind of like a friend that I once used to know," he said, placing a hand on the door and opening it for the other.

When they were outside and in the hallways, away from that room where Hale's relatively innocent mind had been corrupted, Hale finally decided to ask that question. "She seemed like a very important person to you," he stated, guessing by the look on the other's face that he had been right. The class of ballroom dancing was oddly being held at night, which made the entire walk a bit more sinister than it should have. Eishi was able to draw the other closer as they pretended to be a pair of dancers walking down the hallways.

"She was the first friend that I'd made since my childhood," he said. "And well, you heard of what happened to her."

"You didn't seem to react too much to it," Hale added, and realized awkwardly that it must have sounded accusatory.

It was then that Eishi ducked his head a little, and pondered on the other's sentence. Just when Hale had began to think that they were offended, they spoke in a softer tone, the gaze upon their eyes shimmering a bit as they paused in their walk. "Maybe not," they said in a voice littered with regret as they looked at the other straight in the eyes. It was then that Hale noticed the first instance of how they seemed like a weary man, but a kid at the same time as the shadows played upon their features. "But the truth is that I'm pretty worried, and scared to face her again. I feel like that once I see her, that something will be missing, and then we'll pretty much be talking to a walking, dead, puppet of the person that I used to know. And then after that, what will happen to us?"

He was faced with Hale's silence, before he chuckled bitterly. "Someday, it will be like no one remembers us, is what I think. Everything we loved, people that we used to know.. and the things that Charlen can do to them. I feel like it's just a matter of time."

* * *

><p>Naturally, they were late, but Eishi wasn't too concerned about it, having thoughts about the entire situation in the hallway was enough to make him almost panic. Things had been so much easier back when he was able to look up at the skies and only worry about which cloud looked the most like an elephant. He still gathered himself at some point, and Hale did not bother to rush him. The look on the other's face when they entered the room, spoke volumes in terms of how interested the other was in attending the class. He held onto the other as they seemed to wobble a bit on the short heeled slippers and guided the both of them to a corner. Music had already started to play, and it was then that he turned over to Hale, and held out his arms for them to take.<p>

"Do you know how this goes?" He asked, being careful to keep his gaze on the other's face. It had taken a lot of mental cues to remind himself that this person knew how to spin on a set of heels and then toss him over the floor while ramming his body into it if they wanted to.

A nod was given in his direction, and it seemed like the beginnings of a play had started, until he stepped on the other's toes, and stumbled a bit. The first time was when he hoped the other didn't notice, but the second time was when they gave him a stare, and he blushed again, murmuring out. "Yeah, I'm no good at this sort of thing."

A short sigh was given by his white haired partner, though when he looked up again, the dance movements had changed. For a moment, he thought that they had started another routine before he realized that it was the same dance. The other had took the liberties of leading, and making it so that there weren't any fancy whirling movements in the process. He smiled at them, taking their quietness for granted as he began to feel better about the dance and only stepped on their toes a few more times than he might have with his nervousness.

"You seem to let your emotions take control of your actions," explained the albino as they moved and switched sides, and then backstepped towards another couple who just barely grazed in against them. It was Jake, with another dancing partner whose movements were actually rather fluid. Eishi recognized could picture her as the best dancer in the class, before they darted away a few paces nearby but still in hearing range. Hale seemed to tense up when this happened, and Eishi continued the conversation awkwardly.

"But you seem to know what you're doing," he said. "Where did you learn to move like that?"

Hale gave that familiar pause once more, that lingered on longer as his gaze seemed to distance itself from the surroundings as he thought. "Someone that likes to compose music. He was also good at multiple other hobbies. We went to school together before his father's company became a success and he transferred."

Eishi's turn to pause came as he started chuckling a bit. "I bet he transferred over to here. If he's as good as you said, or anything like you," he responded earnestly.

Their gaze met once more and Hale actually tensed again. Eishi realized that it was the first compliment that the other had likely gotten about his abilities over his looks when the other seemed to pause enough that Eishi stepped on his foot again.

"..." Before he could respond, the teacher's voice echoed out loudly around the class.

"Switch partners!"

The atmosphere seemed to change drastically as the girl who danced with Jake looked at him nervously, and Jake and Hale were soon spinning away to another corner, glaring daggers at each other and looking highly displeased. Surprisingly, the teacher commented that theirs was the best dance in the class.

* * *

><p>Once dancing lessons were over, Eishi was glad to stand by the wall. Already, it seemed that servants had set upon a table a plate of light snacks, that students were free to wander over to and enjoy at their leisure. He picked up a glass of sweet wine from the table and started to enjoy it. It was one of those expensive drinks, that were probably kept shelved for a good amount of years for better flavor. Hale and Jake, were being congratulated by the teacher, much to their dismay, the airy man saying in a voice that showed emotion, which was actually not that rare of an occurrence, or so it seemed by the way that he carried himself.<p>

"Bravo! I've never seen such a good show of sportsmanship," gushed the man, clasping his hands together. "You two are perhaps the best students I have come across so far."

"Thank you, sir," started Jake, looking uncomfortable. His gaze was already darting over the other dancers in the classroom, and it looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in that area at the moment.

"Such passion, such tension-!" continued the teacher. "I have not seen such a thing in many years." It continued on this way for a moment, and Eishi could swear that he saw his two friends start turning shades of blue and purple at different intervals.

When they finally made their way over to the table, Eishi would grin at them, and hand them both a glass of wine, to which Jake was the first to grab for.

"Not a word," he said, his eyes narrowing in on the mischievous grin with a frown, and turned towards the windows to actually drain the liquid down, an unusually quick manner that showed that he was more frustrated with the situation than he would have liked to be.

"Next class is music," said Eishi with a glance over to Hale. "We got you a violin, but I'll be sitting in the sidelines to watch this one," he said with a shrug.

Hale paused in his own drinking upon the glass and nodded with a sigh, before pushing away and starting to walk off. His eyes were glazed over, and Eishi thought that he would leave them in the room for a second, before he suddenly turned over to look directly at the two, gesturing at the students who had already began making their way to their next classes.

"Lets get this over with," he said.

* * *

><p>Before class started, Hale had changed out of the ballroom outfit. Eishi had taken the liberties to wait for the man to get situated into the normal uniform, greeting him with a friendly salute when they finally exited. Jake was already in one of the front seats, his own violin in hand next to another student playing the flute. Hale took the seat next to him, while Eishi remained in the corner nearby. The chair next to the one Hale sat in was empty, and it seemed like another late student had the same ideas as the two of them had. The teacher wasn't too happy, and could be heard grumbling things about how the entire composition could be a disaster if they were missing a few key students.<p>

Hale had to agree with him, even as he began testing the strings on the violin, plucking at it to check that it was in good condition. Some students were already fiddling around with their bow, and others yet were blowing quiet tunes on a trumpet.

When the door opened, two students, the last of the violinists entered. One, a boy with short brown hair had his arm slung around another boy, and Hale did a doubletake when he finally noticed who it was; the last person he had wanted to see while sitting around in a skirt, and a person he thought that he would never see again. Eugene had aged in a way with more prominent cheekbones and a more angular shape to his jawline. He wore a different outfit, clearly in school uniform, but recognizable as the day they had first met. He took one look at Hale and his eyes widened slightly. He took one look at the guy who was clearly very close to him, and shoved them aside before making his way to the chair. The boy with the brown hair seemed to laugh lightly, placing a hand over his mouth before following.

A few students from the back murmured something, causing Hale even more surprise, as his violin that had been ready to run across the bow strings suddenly darted downward in unplanned instinct, and gave a piercing shriek at the end of it.

"That's the playboy queer," said a gentleman from behind, in the hearing range of Jake, who also stopped in violin playing as the girl in the back seat shot a disapproving look to the man.

Needless to say, the rest of the class went by with a different sort of tension.

* * *

><p>They met in a group after class, as Eugene had insisted accompanying them, after greeting the brown haired boy, Rickert, with a short kiss on the cheek that was quite easy to miss or mistaken as a whisper to the ears. They had chosen to meet each other in the room, with Eishi and Jake playing chess in the corner, seeming to do their best to ignore the controversy over their guard meeting up with a long time best friend. Hale wasn't really sure about how to feel about it, as times had changed and he'd matured from the idea that there were only two sets of gender roles that should be filled. Eugene had been the first person to question it, and the question he had asked back then now seemed like a silent opening between the both of them.<p>

"Is it really wrong if the other loves them?" They had said, long ago, under that tree in which they had been picking apples from, about some random topic in which they'd spoken about. Hale had only responded with a look of glowering confusion.

"How would I know?" he had stated, as it really wasn't a subject for kids, and that ended the conversation so long ago.

The present had never looked so uncomfortable. Even being in a skirt couldn't really seem to ease the tension between the two of them, and Eugene finally spoke out.

"I didn't think I'd see you here," he said, going through a set of niceties that was unlike him. Hale figured that he must have been very worried about how the other viewed him. They were paler than usual and their hands trembled slightly as they spoke, at least until they took a sip of the tea from a cup. Eishi had taken the initiative to set up a little table for the two of them, and the cloth that covered the table was covered in rainbow colored dots.

Hale looked down at his plain earl grey tea and nodded. "I happened to be around on duty." He raised a hand and gestured to the two playing chess on the other side of the room. "I'm guarding them for now."

Eugene paused and looked worried, the long buttoned wool patterned coat that he had worn over himself greyed and worn out, making Hale feel a bit more at home with the state of the material. "Did something happen? I was under the impression that security around this area would suffice. If they had to send you in, then it must be classified info."

In response, Hale raised the cup of tea to his lips and drank from it, before letting out a sigh of light mist. "It is pretty complicated," he said, and then suddenly set down the cup on his coaster. "All questions aside on my state, I'm glad you finally found your answer."

Eugene watched him, and the nervous palour of his face seemed to fade away as his expression warmed up. "Not quite," he said. "No one really met my specifications, so I've been unattached for the most part."

At Hale's somewhat disapproving look, he simply chuckled. "Come on now, I'm still young and hardly in need of settling down yet. You on the other hand, seemed to have found your answer."

Before Hale could respond, Eishi spoke up from his side in a light curse with his voice. "Damnit, Hale," he actually whined. "Help me, he's kicking my ass over here!"

A hand was placed over his face and he shook his head. "You seem to misunderstand the situation," he said.

Eugene simply giggled, a surprisingly high pitched sound that Hale had never heard from him before. Things really did change with him, he thought, watching them with an exasperated and embarrassed look. "You can't fool me," he said, but the grin on his face and the tone of it was obviously just teasing. "Anyone who can get you in a skirt must be special to you."

"Special.. huh?" Hale muttered, suddenly picturing a scene with the happy teen like man clinging to him from behind and Jake stabbing pins into a voodoo doll with a figurine that clearly resembled him. "In some way, I suppose."

* * *

><p>The peace was shattered abruptly when a shrill scream echoed from the hallways. The tea drinking ceremony of sorts between the two was broken with one of the professors entering the room, a loud bang to the door as he said.<p>

"Students, out of the room. We need a headcount of everyone on premises!"

The four of them stood up and raced towards the scene of the action, ignoring the guards who were calling out to some of the students not to crowd around. The scene of action happened outside in the courtyard, and medics were carrying someone on a stretcher. A girl was sobbing loudly as she spoke to the guards. "I.. I just poured him some wine..." She murmured out. "I swear, I didn't do anything to it. Mary had said that it was a new vintage and we wanted to be outside to look at the stars."

Eugene was the first one who had approached the stretcher, and Hale saw him demand to a medic to show him the person who was upon it.

The girl saw him, and she wailed even more, in a way that sent static to the hair on the back of the neck to stand up on end. "Oh Eugene, it's terrible. He..He's...!"

The medic drew back the blanket, and it was the face of the brown haired kid from the violin lesson. There was blood trailing from his lips and his body looked as if it no longer reacted. Eugene reached over and shook the body, as if he couldn't believe it, before Hale had to pull him away when it still didn't respond to the shouts from the desperate composer.

Rickert had been poisoned, and as Eugene had shaken the body, a simple letter fell out of it, landing on the floor, to which Jake raced forward and quickly snatched up. He saw the letter, and extended it over to Eishi and Hale. The words were written in blood again, the same message as the one that had been shot through the broken window of the hospital.

When Eugene saw it, his eyes narrowed, and it was possibly the most furious that Hale had ever seen him. He took the letter and crumpled it in his grip, before turning away and declaring in a voice that was clearly shaky.

"Whoever did this.. I will find him. I will find him, and then I – "

Before he could finish, Hale had slipped behind him and covered his mouth. Eugene struggled for a bit before finally collapsing from the tension of the situation.

Eishi had walked forward and was covering the face of the dead man, and nodded over to the medic for the body to be carried away.

"Don't sink to his level," he said seriously, once Eugene had settled down in his arms. "If anyone is going to get him back, it'll be us."

The soft hearted man simply sank to his knees. Something in the moment of importance was when he realized that Eugene could never kill the man himself, as they had always been the type of person who valued reason over violence.

But Hale was different from that. Seeing his friend in such a state gave him a wave of protectiveness, and the anger that surged through him started to race up an imaginary thermometer as it reached a boiling point.

_Nothing has changed,_ he thought to himself. _I'll be the one to get my hands dirty, just like always. And this time, no one will stop me. Not even a titan._


	14. Epilogue 2

It had become a silent agreement that Eugene would also stay in the room, along with the three of them. Hale had taken to guarding the entrance at night, having felt it being part of his failure that one of Eugene's lovers had been poisoned. Eugene was sleeping in Hale's bed, because the bodyguard had insisted that he would sleep upon the floor with a few sheets instead of letting their guest suffer. He was most comfortable sleeping that way himself, as it kept him alert and unable to drift off should anything happen. In all honesty, he'd had a bit of trouble sleeping as well, thinking back on the scene of his friend's distressed look, and replaying the view he had of the dead body being carried off. He had just barely met that person in the morning, and then by the end of the night, they'd been just another body in the field. There had already been talks of a funeral for him, a private one that only his family seemed interested in attending. Hale was sure that he'd be there, in any case, if only to provide support for Eugene.

Nevertheless, the night was silent and the tension would fade for the moment, as he gazed out the window at the brightly shining stars in the sky. He stood awake during the ungodly hours, lost in thinking of nothing at all, or thoughts that slipped past from memory. Then he spotted something outside, a flicker of movement of a figure walking past the gates and shutting it. He tensed up, and the figure seemed to be staring vaguely in his direction, before they calmly made their way inwards. His eyes narrowed immediately, and he reacted on instinct. He was not the type to wake the sleeping royals in the bed, and figured that if he was overreacting, then it'd be for nothing. Making his way to the door, he opened it and stood guard, as he clearly saw the figure entering from the front entrance.

When he finally met them face to face, it was unusually direct and quick. Barely a few minutes had passed when they finally reached their room, everything in their demeanor having indicated that they seemed to be intent on approaching that specific area in which he was protecting. Then he saw them for who they were. He had only to pause and realize that they were wearing a uniform that clearly indicated that they were of the Survey Corps. They were a man with black hair, and a somewhat short figure, with a hooded gaze in the dark. Hale shined a compact flashlight upon them, one of the accessories he had managed to acquire from his ridiculously pink suitcase. Hale began to feel that he would recognize their features from the somewhat cold and calculating look on their expression, and the few instances of when he'd caught them marching along the streets, usually with a crowd of onlookers watching them.

Hale didn't need to be told twice, before he raised his hand in a gesture of a salute to none other than Levi himself, the humanity's strongest soldier, only next to the one known as the Titan Shifter. "Sir," he stated, with a bit more confusion than he would have liked to hear in his voice.

Levi nodded, and Hale moved to open the door for him after sensing the direction of his gaze. "At ease." Even if he was of the military police, he'd always had a reserved sense of respect for the fighters that braved the giants beyond the walls. Even so, when he closed the door behind him and faced the other, the apologies for the state of the room died straight away in his throat in the next series of moments.

The trigger was pulled, and one bullet embedding itself neatly into the wall, done in a manner in the fact that if it hadn't been so loud, that Hale would have sworn that the soldier had simply been throwing a dart. The occupants in the room sprang awake immediately, Eugene being the last to stand, and Jake having been the first. Levi promptly ignored them, the surprised expressions on their faces and the silent inquiries as they took in the familiar visage of the soldier.

"This school has now been put on lockdown," he said. "I already communicated with the military police beforehand so don't worry about disturbing anyone's beauty sleep."

Eishi stared back at Levi with a bit of shock, while Jake was the first one to speak out. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. The bullet that had been fired had been shot in the direction of Eishi, grazing a few inches from the tip of his head, right before he had been jolted upwards in obvious alarm, in the middle of having moved forward to approach the other.

Levi simply stared coldly at the purple haired almost-victim, and walked forward before using his free hand to curl into a fist as he delivered a punch straight into the other's jawline, sending the boy reeling backwards and almost falling back into the bed. "Get out," he said in a steely note. "You are now under arrest for murder."

Jake paused, and his eyes narrowed, before he was the first one to attempt to intervene. "What the hell are you going on about?" He asked. It was the first time Hale had ever seen him angry enough to curse.

Levi's lips curled into a light smirk, as if he actually found the situation funny for a moment. "You really like to toy with your victims, don't you, Charlen?" He asked. "First, you have the nerve to fuck with me, and now you take it out on him."

Hale paused, and no one said anything for a moment. The silence and chill that ran over the room seemed deadly, as if all warmth had drained from it. The gun in Levi's hand didn't seem to waver either aimed with certainty, and caused Hale's instincts of dread to rise tenfold. The bitter taste of the truth lingered in the air as Eishi finally raised himself up into a straightened position. His bangs covered his face, but something had changed about him... Slowly, a grin that showed an unusually sharp amount of teeth, it seemed, formed across his expression, and that's when everyone knew.

"It can't be..." uttered Eugene faintly.

Levi didn't wait for Eishi to react any longer and moved forward in a determined posture. "Get out," he repeated in a tone with venom. "Or I'll make you wish you were never born."

Of course, the reaction he got was a bit of deranged laughter. Eishi's voice had changed in that instant. It became deeper and sounded as if he was a completely different being. "You have a lot of nerve to come here to me like this," he stated. "I wonder if you really care about such a fragile being so much to try and sacrifice yourself."

A flash of lightning seemed to strike directly outside their windows. The breeze whipped in from the hallways, as the voice became so deep that it was suddenly metallic with a gravelly edge of steel. "Did you forget about the things you wanted to do, Levi? Or is it that you want me inside you again that badly? We had a lot of fun. I remember. I stopped time, ripped out your limbs over and over again. I could do it again right now. Is that what you really want?"

In response, Levi fired another bullet towards the other, but Hale could sense that they were angry, fearful, and about ready to aim again. "The next one won't miss," he simply stated.

"Oh, I know," said Eishi just then, his voice having been mangled beyond all recognition. Then, with what seemed like a rather nimble move, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun before pointing it at Jake. "Come over here, boy," he said darkly. "Levi won't shoot me as long as I have you as a hostage, and no one here will lift a finger against your dear brother as long as we're together."

Jake took one look at Levi, and then ducked his head. When he spoke next, he simply nodded. "I understand," he said, his tone sounding rather dead, and walked over to stand right in front of his brother.

The window shattered next as Eishi shot it, and before anyone could make a move, lightning struck all of them, the light flaring directly past the window.

The last thing Hale saw before he passed out was the smiling face of Eishi's, with a gun pointed at Jake's neck.

* * *

><p>The two of them walked down the hallways, side by side, like the old days. This time, there was no fountain, and a thick fog had settled over from the skies, lingering down like a cloak that sucked away all warmth between the two of them. Jake felt rather numb, and thought that if he pinched his arm, that he would wake up from a rather bad dream. Instead, he didn't lift a finger, as if afraid to find out that what he had done and was going to do was a reality. Surely, he thought, it could not end in anything but pain, and his death. They were still indoors, making their way towards an office down in the lower floors, one that was abandoned due to rumors that a ghost liked to haunt it. If anything, Charlen seemed to have a dreary sense of humor.<p>

"Don't you have anything to say to me?" asked the villain, as the door sprang open in front of them. They spoke in a normal voice by now, with none of the sinister sorts of fireworks that had happened when Levi had tried to confront them. Jake wasn't fooled one bit, if he had been beforehand. "Surely you knew that I'd have tried something like this already. Your brother was left unguarded and was quite the easy pickings. That soldier friend of his had put up more of a fight."

Jake stepped into the room first, feeling oddly like he was being escorted into a jail cell. "How did you do it?" He asked quietly.

Charlen looked at him with the face of his brother and chuckled softly. It was as if he was trying to humor the other in a pseudo-friendly manner, and that served to send Jake more on edge, along with the bitter pain that didn't stop clenching around his heart. "The data that Edward had given me was quite invaluable," he started. "It taught me how to do things that no normal human being could, but he, like I was, wanted everything. We wanted the ability to think and be ourselves while transferring our body into titans. But he was a rather smart one, for before he gave me the data, he modified it a bit. It turns out that I cannot become a titan after all, and I was stuck without my own body as I could not return to it. Furthermore, it seems like I can only take over someone at night, with a bit of effort and manipulation upon their wills."

Jake frowned at that. "And this is why you're so hell-bent on retrieving the last of this data," he stated.

"And who would be able to stop me but that very father of hers?" asked the man with a light scoff. "I am very close to being able to complete total transfer, and once this is done, I will likely be able to rule the world. No one will be able to stop me, titan or human. I am already beyond the strongest of my abilities, after all. Think of what I could do with all that power. The limits are practically nonexistent." He paused, and then looked over to the other. "And that.. is why you must hand me over the last of the data. The soft-hearted fool left me one option of hope in that he shared his work with his daughter, and like some mysterious prodigy, she picked up all the calculations on the spot. In return, of course, I could easily adjust the mind of this person I'm inside, and give you everything you wanted, but were too afraid to ask for."

Charlen looked over at him and in an instant, he had snatched Jake by the tie of his uniform and drew him close. Jake immediately felt sick to his stomach, and flinched away. "You're insane," he hissed out vehemently.

"Am I?" asked Charlen. "I've seen into his memories, and I know that he knew deep down. It was fun to see his emotions when he realized how you felt. So very fun, when I mocked him and then drove him into the miserable state he is in now."

Charlen kept a firm hold on his tie. "How does it really feel?" He asked, keeping a lock upon the other's gaze."Doesn't it get boring to have one person in the world who you can't really kill?"

He reacted without thinking, and for the moment, his instincts kicked in and he delivered a blinding slap into the side of the other's face. But Charlen was apparently done with talking. "Ah well, I gave you a chance," he said, and brought both of his hands to suddenly pin the other into the desk as his hands gripped around his throat in an attempt to strangle him to death. "Don't think that I can't figure out myself how to do it. It will take a while, but I will enjoy every minute of it."

His vision started fading, and as his breath was constricted, he felt even sicker when the other subtly leaned in against him in a faux-loving manner. His instincts started to kick in and he tried to claw at the other's hands, but raise his fists to fight and he found that his body would not obey him. The self-defense and the resolve had slipped out of him right then and there, as soon as his breath would begin to fade away entirely.

Suddenly, in the corner of his mind, a warm presence began to take over him, and he felt calm. In the grip of death, the truth of his emotions seemed to unlock a blissful numbness. He no longer felt the constriction around his throat. Light had faded into his view, and all he could see and hear then was the sound of Audrey's voice. She reached out to place a hand on his shoulder and spoke, in the same thoughtful and inquisitive manner that he remembered her to sound like.

"I understand now, Jake," she said. "I understand what I must do, but I wanted to tell you before you forget.. Thank you for all you've done, and please, look after him well."

In that instance, he wanted to call out to her as her presence started to fade from view, and he felt that he would be alone again in the darkness. But that wasn't the case and he knew it. Charlen had drawn back, as if stunned as a bright light had emanated from his victim's form. His eyes were glowing, and he seemed unlike himself, as a ghastly smile appeared over his features, that which seemed out of place but with a heavenly chill that could freeze all the fires in the room. If there was a candle lit on that very desk, Jake could have sworn that it would have lit itself out in the radiance of the glow.

"I've been waiting for you, Charlen," she said, and before the other could move away, Jake darted forward and flung his arms around him in what seemed like a loving embrace.

"Let us go to hell together."

His vision faded out and he fainted like this, with his arms wrapped around his brother. He vaguely thought in the back of his mind that he saw the door burst open. He thought he heard the stunned voice of Hale calling out his name and shaking him, and that was when he smiled and gave in to the light, which overshadowed everything.

* * *

><p>The funeral being held for Rickert was indeed attended by the four. To much of the noble students' surprise, Hale appeared in his normal Military Police outfit. The body had been lain in the coffin, covered in a lot of makeup by the mortician so that it didn't look like it was dead. In this occasion, there were fancy decorations and ribbons of the darkest and most dreary colors. The only flowers in the funeral, even in the vases, were lilies. Levi had not shown up for the funeral, having been called away back to the front lines to fight titans once more. Hale did not blame him and was busy pointedly ignoring the glances of a few giggling girls nearby to worry too much about someone who could likely kill them in the blink of an eye. When he shot a flat look over at them, they immediately turned red and looked away, pretending to mope once more. Clearly, there were just some onlookers from the school who just showed up in ceremony.<p>

Eishi and Jake were standing next to each other, both their heads ducked in prayer, and Hale couldn't help but think that he had never seen them both so solemn before. Eugene himself had been requested to stand at the eulogy and make a speech, and he did in soft tones. Hale had felt that he didn't really want to listen in on such an intimate conversation, as he noted the crying tears of the mother, and the saddened look of the father.

"I first met Rickert when I transferred to this school," he said. "I was shy back then, but he drew out a part of me that I never thought that I would get to know. Soon, because of Rickert, I was more able to open up to others, and share my ideas in a bold way that I would not have been able to if he hadn't been there. I already had skills in composing music, and Rickert was like my left arm, playing along when I lost inspiration, and making me laugh when I felt bad."

When he saw that Eugene had finished the speech, he was relieved enough to make his way over to the other, intercepting them as they looked on the verge of tears, and were about to break down. They paused, seeming to gather themselves together when they saw Hale, and put on what seemed like a forced smile.

"I thought I'd accompany you back to school for a while, just like the old times," said Hale quietly.

Eugene nodded and then looked around for the other two. "Are they coming as well?" He asked, in a hushed tone.

Hale shook his head. "They've got another burial to attend," he said, and that was the end of that conversation.

* * *

><p>It was time to face the music. Eishi had never really been direct and blunt to the subject of romance, and so he had been trying to avoid talking to Jake about such. Jake himself, had not really pushed on the subject either, but Eishi was now a bit more aware of the intentions behind their actions. He still felt the sting of being held back by a mental wall as he could feel every action that he had done under Charlen's control, to the point that it felt as if his very own nails had been the one gritting into the other's neck, which had never looked so fragile until then.<p>

He had continually checked on his brother's condition afterward, refusing to leave him alone until the nurse kicked him out of the room. Considering that he was a doctor usually, it was quite embarrassing, but having been through the last weeks and playing as a college student had brought back some memories, the good parts of which he had missed. Jake had been eventually released with a clean bill of health, but the guilt seemed to linger in the back of his mind, along with the sudden realization that he might have crossed a bridge that he could no longer return to.

As they stood in front of a makeshift grave that they had made for Audrey, the two of them bowed their heads in prayer.

He prayed with all his heart on a wish that he knew was foolish, but he did so anyway like the kind of person he was. If there was one last thing that Audrey could grant him in the afterlife, it was probably something that he hadn't lost, but enough of a bitter fear to the point that he was even sniffling a bit when he thought about it. Jake seemed to be oblivious when they looked up at him, a bit of confusion shining in his gaze.

Instead of feeling better about that, he decided he would just raise a fist and punch lightly on the other's shoulder, before he finally burst into a rather squeaky set of tears. "Jake, you idiot. Why do you have to be so confusing?!"

"If it's about the incident with Charlen, you can forget about it," was his response from the other, glancing to the side as well as if he was somewhat embarrassed.

He flailed both his arms, waving them in a cartoon-like manner of exasperation. He suddenly felt smaller than he did before, as if he was a little kid and the other was a mountain. "Forget?" He asked incredulously. "How would I forget something like that?"

There was no answer from the other and he rounded on them to grab them by the shoulders and shake them a bit. "Never. Ever do something like that again..!" He seemed to demand, but his trembling probably spoke volumes, and Jake had to reach over to push him away.

He paused when he suddenly saw the alarm and fear in the other's face, and in that simple instance, he saw Jake flinch, but the reason that he did so didn't seem to matter. "Augh. I'm a monster!" he cried out, and turned away to cover his face. After all, he thought, in the process of feeling the most remorse that he could have in his entire life. Here he had been hoping to protect the other, and because of stupid Charlen, he had nearly strangled them to death.

"Eishi.." started Jake, sighing and reaching over to place a hand on his shoulder. In this moment, there was really no one who could comfort him other than the other, so he let him. He let the feeling of his thumb rub into his shoulders, until it soothed away his rather pained expression, and with it came steely resolve.

"Promise me you won't," he said finally. "Because if you do, I'll kill myself first the next time. Swear it!"

Jake would pause, and then he suddenly smirked at him. "Fine," he said, turning around and starting to walk off. "I promise that you won't die first the next time something like this happens."

Eishi gaped at him as he suddenly appeared a good deal further ahead down the path, and ran after him. "That's not what I meeant..."

Of course, the rest of the trip back home was considerably more lighthearted. He found that Jake had a way of avoiding subjects that were sensitive, and deep down in his heart, he probably appreciated it. After all, the truth was that even if the world turned upside down, he did not really want to change the way he felt about his brother, and he knew them well enough to be certain that if they really wanted to breach such a topic, they'd already have done so at that moment.

* * *

><p>Dear Levi,<p>

I heard that one of your squad members just became Queen. Congrats to Christa, and I hope to see her at one of the parties. I heard she makes the cutest queen in the world and that the people down in the slums love her. Anyway, I know you're a busy person and I hope this letter makes it to you all right. It takes a lot of work to train a bird and send it over properly y'know. But I guess I'll just make a print copy next time. Cross your fingers and hope the other letters I tried to send you came through all right!

Anyway, I just wanted to update you about what's going on in my life, because you haven't been around the hospital lately.

Jake is still at school, and studying. Hale visits me sometimes at the hospital, and that kid that you never remembered the name of "Eugene", is on his way of graduating and becoming a professional musician.

In other words, I'm stuck at the hospital all day, doing double shifts with no one to hang around with! I've been watching the news, however, and trying to keep up with current events. I was worried about you guys for a while, when the old ruler thought that it was a good idea to break up the Survey Corps. You should have heard the people down in the streets about it. It's like they thought that all you guys did all day was sit around and drink tea. It's a whole different world out there beyond the walls, anyway.

But about what happened the last time you came to visit...

I'm pretty sorry that it all happened the way it did. I know I'm apologizing too much, but I didn't really expect Charlen to have the sort of powers he did. I mean, if someone had told me earlier that demonic possession was real, I would have pretty much laughed at them. Still, nobody really would have believed that titans were real either until they nearly wiped us out, so long ago. It's almost like some kind of religion, the way it's spoken of in some of Jake's classes. I ended up sticking around for a bit more, and spending time with him.

Thanks to you, I can spend time with him without worrying that I'm going to gut him up and spill his entrails upon the floor in my sleep. I know it sounds creepy, but I'm really sure that's right down Charlen's alley.

Also, I realize that you thought that Hale was a girl when you first saw him. I can explain, we were putting him undercover so that he would be more effective in guarding us. Really! I'm sure that you probably had to do that with some of the guys in your team, huh?

I almost thought Eren was a girl when I first saw him. Kids these days get prettier and prettier sometimes. Speaking of which, I never really got to know him either. Do you think he likes cookies?

And I guess it's not fair to write to you about all this stuff and just leave out some explanation, but I guess I'll start with what happened directly afterward to us first. As soon as you guys found us passed out in a brotherly hug, I ended up waking up first. I realized what happened and I gotta be honest. It felt so bad, that I went to the corner of the room and nearly puked. I would have too if I had actually eaten something that night. Yeah, I know, big surprise there.

Then things were kind of fuzzy after that, but I remembered Hale doing something like CPR on Jake, pressing on his chest, you know, that kind of routine. It took a few minutes longer before we realized that Jake was already breathing and just pretending to be asleep. You should have seen the look on Hale's face when he opened his eyes and wiggled his eyebrows. I've never been so happy to hear someone flirt with someone else, but it sure broke the tension between the two. Hale really did look like an angel in that skirt too. It must be that albino complexion.

Then Eugene walked up to me and insisted to you to make sure that I was still, well, me... and that was when you took your leave. I don't think he realized who he was talking to, or he was just a bit worried about us, so I'll tell you what happened exactly in my very own words. That way you don't have to deal with any of it. See? I can be thoughtful.

So, after we told Eugene what happened, he insisted that we bring Jake to the nurse, just for a checkup to make sure that everything was all right, because after Jake told us that he had been hiding Audrey inside himself the whole time, he actually did collapse. I don't usually believe in magic, but since I've seen it firsthand, it's likely that her energy drained him a little bit. It's not too farfetched, is it? But I guess he was kind of smart. He probably hid Audrey's real location from us too, so that he was the only one who knew. When it came down to it, we would have been screwed over if he had told us the truth right away.

It also turns out that there was some truth in what he said too. So it was actually a half lie and half truth. Edward's father had delivered the device to Jake, with all those instructions in the back of the page of the letter on how to accept Audrey into himself. The problem with that, being that accepting a ghosty inside you kind of isn't the same as the entity transferring themselves over to someone else. Pretty interesting way to do magic and science, huh? It's like that thing called alchemy that we read about in books so long ago.

The real problem was that he also gave most of the data to Charlen in an attempt to pacify his murderous streak. Obviously that didn't work out, and so he had to commit suicide when he realized that he had been betrayed. It's kind of sad how people with high intellect get picked on so easily, even by people as smart as they are sometimes. They obviously had so much to leave us. I certainly would have enjoyed a class like that, but maybe I'm a bit weird. Jake says I try to understand things that I just don't a lot of times.

And we put together what happened to you pretty easily too. Remember that time when I was cleaning your window and we got shot at? I remember it all now. There was a guy who suddenly came into the room, directly after we read the letter, and he sprayed something at us that made us pass out. After that, it was pretty easy for him to take over your mind. When I woke up and found out what happened, I remember agreeing to let the guy take over mine. Apparently, a willing victim increases the control that Charlen can have over someone, and once I signed my name in blood, so to speak, I also lost my memories of the incident, until he died, actually.

It's a bit creepy now that I think about it, not that none of this was disturbing in the first place, but how easy it is just to erase people's memories like that. It's kind of like how the titans were created to resemble people sometimes that do nothing but munch on humans. I mean, what if the titans were made out of humans? Wouldn't that be something.

Also, I really don't like the fact that he did all that mental torture to you. I know this is out of the blue, and you're a tough one, but he really didn't have to go that far. I... hope I never see something like that again.

So, Jake was brought to the nurse, and we showed up during after hours, so the nurse was kind of stressed. Her shift was supposed to have ended hours ago and the one that was supposed to replace her was apparently out drinking. She still helped us though, but I think it was because it seemed like Jake had a small fever. Due to the cold temperature and the weather and all the stress, he probably could have caught pneumonia. Obviously, I stayed by his side the whole time. It was kind of sad. He wouldn't let me near him sometimes whenever I tried to place a towel on his head. Then when he remembered who I was, he would try to apologize to me. I'm serious, man. When have you ever heard him say sorry to someone?

After he got better, he bought me an eagle, and I've been busy training it since, just so that maybe it can deliver a letter to you. But don't worry, even if the first copy doesn't get to you, I'll send a copy by human messenger.

Don't get me wrong. I'm still doing my job as a doctor. It's just been a bit more difficult to sleep lately, so I take on night shifts more often. Sai says that maybe writing you a letter about it will help too. So here it is.

Sincerely,

Eishi Lane

P.S. With Tea


End file.
